Britain's Independent newspaper cited a source from the sports governing body as saying that "other issues above and beyond Singapore are also to be looked at". The source also revealed that the investigation began at Spa, during last week's Grand Prix, where engineering boss Pat Symonds and Fernando Alonso were amid the "senior Renault figures" which were questioned.
Another British newspaper, the Daily Express, reported that Renault engineers have denied claims concerning the Piquet incident to the FIA and that Renault's boss, Flavio Briatore, has already been interviewed by a lawyer in Belgium. The newspaper wrote that "several other engineering staff were also questioned" and "data and transmission recordings have been removed for examination."
But with all the agitation around the Crash-Gate accusations, as the scandal is called by several media agencies, two former Renault F1 team members took the French manufacturer's side.
Renault's engine chief in Singapore last year, Denis Chevrier, told the French radio RMC "in my personal capacity I did not have knowledge of the strategy during the 2008 Grand Prix of Singapore, but I can ensure you that if this is true then it was in radical opposition to the attitude of Renault."
While former Renault test driver, Franck Montagny, in an interview with 20minutes.fr, called the allegations "science fiction" and refused to accept that Briatore would give one of his drivers such an order.
"Even when you are asked to let someone pass it is annoying, but to be made to deliberately have an accident is really something else. Nobody can give instructions like that; I've never heard anything like that in Formula One," said Montagny.
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