**Flavio Briatore has left his position as boss of the Renault team after they decided not to contest charges of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.**Executive director of engineering Pat Symonds has also left the team.
Renault were summoned by governing body, the FIA, after Nelson Piquet Jr claimed he had been asked to crash to help team-mate Fernando Alonso’s race.
An FIA spokesperson confirmed a World Motor Sport Council hearing in Paris on Monday will go ahead.
Renault have been called to answer charges that they “conspired with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso”.
The hearing will attempt to attribute responsibility for the Singapore “crash-gate” despite the news that Briatore and Symonds have left Renault.
The FIA could still impose sanctions if Renault are found guilty, including excluding the team from the championship.
Piquet crashed two laps in Sinagpore after Alonso had come in for a routine pit stop.
That meant that when race officials sent out the safety car to clear up the debris from Piquet’s car, Alonso was alone among the front-runners in not having to stop for fuel and tyres.
Renault’s double world champion went on to take the chequered flag at Formula 1’s inaugural night race and claim his first victory in two years.
At the time, Piquet attributed the crash to a simple error, but after being dropped by the team after July’s Hungary GP the race-fixing allegations emerged.
The Brazilian has since testified to the FIA that he was instructed by Briatore and Symonds when and where to crash.
Renault’s response was to accuse the 24-year-old and his father Nelson Piquet of false allegations and blackmail, going as far as beginning legal action against them.
But the team have moved to diffuse the situation and said in a statement: "Renault will not dispute the recent allegations made by the FIA concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
“It also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team.”
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