Bad publicity (what else?) for Formula 1

Formula 1 hasn’t gotten the best pub the last few months.

There was Max Mosley, the president of its governing body, and hookers being filmed engaging in S&M activity with — some thought — Nazi concentration camp overtones.

Then there was Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 chief, publicly praising Hitler as a man who knew how to “get things done.”

Now we have the specter of a cheating scandal, the possibility that Renault driver Nelson Piquet was ordered to crash against the wall toward the end of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix to bring out the caution flag and enable teammate Fernando Alonso to win.

At the time, Piquet explained that his car had been virtually “undriveable” after bottoming over the bumps on his heavy fuel load.

But that was then — before Piquet was axed by Renault for failing to satisfy performance clauses in his contract.

Now, there’s an angry reaction from Piquet, references to “some strange situations” involving the team and whispers of an investigation by FIA.

The moral of this story might turn out to be, “Be careful whom you fire.”

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=46771