Renault team spared major punishment

Renault team spared major punishment

PARIS - Nelson Piquet Jr. wishes every day he had refused orders to deliberately crash at a race.

The fallout from that incident hit yesterday, when Formula One spared his former team severe punishment but indefinitely banned the disgraced official who called for the crash.

Renault received a suspended ban; the team would be permanently disqualified from the sport if it breaks the FIA's rules within the next two years. Flavio Briatore, who quit as team principal last week, was banned indefinitely from F1 activities by the World Motor Sport Council. Engineering executive director Pat Symonds, who also left Renault last week, was banned for five years after expressing his "eternal regret and shame" that he participated in the conspiracy.

"We gave them a suspended sentence because Renault demonstrated that the team had no responsibility and the company even less," FIA President Max Mosley said.

Piquet, who received immunity from FIA, was ordered to crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix to help teammate Fernando Alonso win. "I bitterly regret my actions to follow the orders I was given," Piquet said.

Meanwhile, FIA ratified its calendar for the 2010 season and reinstated the Canadian Grand Prix, provided contract negotiations with Formula One management are completed.

The Canadian Grand Prix had been held at the Montreal track annually since 1978 before being dropped this season. The race is scheduled for June 13.

Montreal was dropped from the 2009 F1 calendar after negotiations with race organizers collapsed. F1 wanted $175 million to keep the Montreal race on the 2009 schedule, but organizers and the government balked. Earlier this month, local promoter Normand Legault announced that the two sides had settled their financial dispute.

NASCAR requests Mayfield evaluation

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - NASCAR asked a federal judge to order a mental and physical examination on suspended driver Jeremy Mayfield to determine if he has a substance-abuse problem.

NASCAR also wants to know if Mayfield suffers from attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, as he claims.

Yesterday's filing includes three affidavits and a deposition from four different people who claim to have witnessed Mayfield using methamphetamines multiple times since 1999.

Mayfield has been suspended for failing a random drug test collected May 1. NASCAR has said he twice tested positive for methamphetamines, but Mayfield has denied using the illegal drug.

RCR loses sponsor

WELCOME, N.C. - Richard Childress Racing will lose sponsor Jack Daniel's at the end of the season. Jack Daniel's has been with RCR since 2005 and spent this season sponsoring the No. 07 Chevrolet for Casey Mears. The decision was made after a change in spending priorities by parent company Brown-Forman. - From Wire Reports