F1 team review - Renault

"Renault have had a very difficult season. Their car has not been competitive and, in the Singapore race-fixing scandal, they have been engulfed in one of the biggest cheating scandals in motor racing, if not all of sport.

RENAULT FACTS AND STATS Drivers: Fernando Alonso Nelson Piquet Jr Nationality: French Headquarters Enstone (UK) and Paris (France) Debut season 1977 Test driver: Romain Grosjean Team principal: Flavio Briatore Technical director: Bob Bell Engine: Renault V8 Total Grand Prix wins: 35 2008 position: 4th Constructors' titles 2

"It is very hard to believe that such a thing could happen. Renault have been quite lucky to come out of it relatively unscathed, because after all the people involved in it were employed by them.

"Flavio Briatore lost his position as team principal as part of the fall-out and he will be missed. He was a great character. But he will regret having been involved. He has let down not just himself, but the team and the sport.

"It is now thing of the past, but it has had a huge effect on the team.

"Romain Grosjean, whose promotion in place of Nelson Piquet Jr led to the scandal, has not been a match for Fernando Alonso or even Piquet. So Renault have effectively been a one-car team - and that is a huge psychological blow.

"But there are some reasons for optimism for the future. I have huge respect for Bob Bell, who has been standing in as team principal, and it would appear that Renault are as committed to F1 as ever.

"I would imagine they would employ a senior French sporting figure as the team principal - perhaps Jean-Pierre Jabouille, who won Renault's first ever Grand Prix."

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