In the wake of the past two Open Wheel accidents involving Henry surtees and Felipe Massa, Renault has been handed a one race suspension by the FIA after Hungarian GP pole sitter Fernando Alonso’s front wheel departed his R29 and went careening down the race track, after apparently not having its wheel nut attached properly during the team’s first pit stop.
The ban is to be served during the next race, the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Spain, which happens to be one of two races promoting the Spanish racing star and two time World Champion…
Talk about a race promoter’s nightmare, eh? Uhm, Mr. Ecclestone, I’d really like to be able to recoup some of the millions I’ve paid you to host your F1 circus, could you please give Maxie a ring and see if he can do something?
Of course, perhaps the Country’s sanctioning body could instruct Renault to pull a Benetton… As my memory seems to recall that a one Michael Schumacher was enabled to race in his home Grand Prix (Hockenheim) under an appeal of his previous race ban for having passed Damon Hill on the warm-up lap in Britain, some 15 years ago. As this penalty does indeed seem to be the knee jerk reaction that Ross Brawn cautioned against…
Good luck Flavur Flav (Briatore) in getting your “Home Boy” reinstated… Hmm? And rumours suggest that Renault’s number two driver Nelson Piquet Jr. is outta a ride, so who’ll be driving the “Reggie’s” cars in Valencia, eh?
