From September 28, 2008 Many years have passed, but this is still a very memorable day in Greece Formula 1.

It was the first F1 race Singaporean Asian square that slowly becomes something traditional in the calendar, his F1’s first night racehis return to victory Fernando Alonso with the team renault and also the scene of one of the worst events in modern F1. The call crashgate.

What was crashgate? Why is it one of the worst pages of Fernando Alonso’s career despite being one of his 32 wins? Below is the explanation.

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What was the crashgate at the 2008 Singapore GP?

The 2008 Formula 1 season was coming to an end and Ferrari and McLaren dominated the championship, with Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton challenging point by point who would be the world champion. Renault, meanwhile, despite the return of Fernando Alonso to the team, had just finished on the podium in Germany with Nelson Piquet Jr.the Spaniard’s young team-mate and Formula 1 rookie.

Massa took pole position and started the race at the front, accompanied by Hamilton, while The Renaults, who did not perform well in qualifying (Alonso was 15th and Piquet 16th) It was in the back of the car..

By fighting in this order, Alonso was the first driver through the pits for a change of tire composition and refueling on lap 12 of the 61st race. It was a stop that was made much earlier than expected, but it worked because Piquet crashed two laps later at Turn 17had to appear safety car that too it allowed Alonso to be in an ideal positionbecause the then regulations did not allow the drivers to go into the pits until they were all gathered behind the safety car.

So the Spaniard overtook all the cars that stopped while waiting to pass the ones that didn’t because they needed refueling, which was then done in F1. Alonso took the win in Singaporewith Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton behind him in a very crowded race.

Until there, It seemed that the Renault team had excellent luck which had given Alonso great opportunities to win and he took advantage of them. The Spaniard finished very well that season: after Singapore he won in Japan, was fourth in China and second in Brazil.

However, a year later it would be known that What Alonso did in Singapore was not luck, but an illegal tactic used by Renault.

More | Who won the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix? The list of all winners

Nelson Piquet Jr. he was sacked by Renault in early August 2009 due to poor results and a few days later reports began of an FIA investigation into an incident that occurred at a recent race. It was about the complaint against Renault for violation of an article of the international sports code due to a conspiracy between Renault and Piquet Jr. to cause intentional conflictwith the The aim is to have the safety car on the track and this will give an advantage to the team’s other driver, Fernando Alonso.

After all, Pique Jr. stated that Flavio Briatore and Pat Simmonds asked him to crash at a certain corner (the accident happened on the 17th where there was no tow truck nearby to remove the wrecked car) and The Brazilian disputed that Alonso knew nothing because of the ‘nonsensical’ strategy that you have to go very quickly to refuel. Alonso denied any knowledge of such a thing.

Finally, a few days later it was announced that Briatore and Symonds were leaving Renault (the team manager and chief engineer) and The FIA ​​gave Renault a ban but suspended it for 2 years (ie he would be removed from F1 if a similar event happened again), Briatore was sentenced to life and Simmonds was sentenced to 5 years.. Briatore’s sanction was hailed by some media outlets as the strongest in Formula 1 history. Alonso received no sanction.

The Spaniard once again had very good results on his returns in Singaporeshowing that he likes the circuit beyond any trick a team plays. The one from Asturias won there in 2010 with Ferrarihe was third in 2009 with Renault and also with Ferrari in 2012, finished second with Ferrari in 2013 and finished fourth with Ferrari in 2011 and 2014. He also scored points with McLaren in 2016 and 2018, finishing seventh .

Already on his return to F1, Alonso raced in Singapore with Alpine in 2022 and placed fifth in the standings and in the race he held several laps ahead of Max Verstappen, until a mechanical problem forced him to retire.

Piquet did not return to Formula 1 and yes symonds didwho worked as a consultant for the Manor team and between 2013 and 2016 was the CTO of Williams, and in 2017 he took up this position at a general level in Formula 1. Also Briatorewho in 2022 received his role Formula 1 Ambassador.