Formula One news

Hill angry over inconsistency of penalties

Damon Hill has reacted angrily to the decision of handing the Renault team only a suspended disqualification from the World Championship despite being found guilty of race-fixing in last year's Singapore Grand Prix. The 1996 World Champion believes that the Enstone squad has dramatically escaped more serious charges.

With Team Principal Flavio Briatore, Chief Executive of Engineering Pat Symonds and driver Nelson Piquet Jr. having planned for the latter to crash in order to aid team-mate Fernando Alonso's drive to victory, Hill disagrees with the Monday decision of the sport's governing body but half-expected such an outcome.

Hill is pushing the FIA to be more specific when handing out penalties

"I'm not surprised they've let Renault off," the Englishman told The Times of the FIA.

"It's a crying shame for the sport; you have to put this in the context of inconsistencies in the way in which the FIA has treated breaches of the regulations over the years and, knowing what we know, we cannot dissociate this from the power play going on behind the scenes for control of Formula One.

"Formula One has to ask itself: is it just a very expensive form of entertainment or a proper sport? There is a whole book on what's wrong with Formula One. It's called 'Bernie's Game' and the history of this episode is typical."

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