Earlier this week, the French manufacturer stated that it won't dispute the FIA's race-fixing charges at the September 21st meeting of the World Motor Sport Council. With the international body officially accusing Renault of fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, well... you do the math!
In addition, team boss Flavio Briatore and head of engineering Pat Symonds have left the team in recent days – or they have been sacked, one can never be sure about this kind of situations – adding to the overall picture that they somehow feel responsible for what happened last year. However, the Singapore government minister insisted that the scandal does not affect the Asian city-state in any way, as it's an internal affair of the FIA and Renault.
“From what I understand from the experts, this is really about more a particular team's tactics and so on, not a comment about the venue. So I don't think it has any particular impact on Singapore. This is really a matter between the FIA and the teams,”trade and industry senior minister of state S. Iswaran told reporters, according to the GMM news agency.
In addition, recent reports from Singapore show that almost 90 percent of the tickets for the upcoming race have already been sold. The Marina Bay Circuit has a maximum capacity of 85,000 people. The Singapore GP will also host, for the first time in Formula One, the F1 Rocks concerting event initiated by F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Iswaran also said the haze situation in the state-city will be evaluated carefully by the FIA, as the ruling body will eventually decide what measure it will take in order to insure the safety of the drivers.
“As for the ... safety and impact on (the race due to) the haze situation – it will be a decision taken by the FIA, so we'll leave it in their good hands,” added S. Iswaran.
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