Renault's future hangs on FIA 'crashgate' verdict tomorrow

The Nelson Piquet junior 'crashgate' scandal could not have come at a worse time for a Formula One team such as Renault already under pressure to justify its operation against the backdrop of the global economic crisis.

Renault's implicit acceptance of what has been described as the worst case of cheating in the history of sport cannot fail to have some bearing on its continued presence in the sport.

The credit crunch has already forced Honda and BMW to pull the plug on their F1 operations - and the negative publicity that has shadowed the murky goings on at last year's Singapore Grand Prix can hardly help Renault's image in a decimated market place.

Question marks over Renault's F1 involvement had already been raised before Piquet's whistle-blowing call to the FIA which triggered this latest and most damaging of scandals to hit the sport.

Former team boss Flavio Briatore angrily brushed off suggestions that Renault's future could be in doubt back in January, just one month after Honda announced they were quitting.

"Everyone always talks about Renault, whereas the others have more problems than us," said the Italian, who resigned last week along with Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds.

"No one ever asked Honda if they were going to stay. And look what happened, they left," added Briatore.

"It's been five years now that we've been talking about reducing costs. Renault has never been one to waste money. Spectacular presentations, fireworks, that's not for us. I've never had a budget problem at Renault."

The amount of money it costs to run a modern day Formula One team - Renault's annual budget is put at up to €300 million - has never been more pertinent in these cash-strapped times.

That's a hard figure to justify for a car giant that recorded an 80 per cent loss in profits in 2008 on the previous year's sales and which has already suffered a €2.7 billion hit in the first quarter of 2009.

Renault's success in F1 is pivotal to its image and consequently its performance in a market place shrunk by the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression in the 1930s.

F1, with its 600 million spectators, remains the principal vehicle for Renault to advertise its marque - Fernando Alonso's world drivers' titles in 2005 and 2006 giving it a huge boost in sales around the world.

But for the past two years the team based in France at Viry-Chatillon on the outskirts of Paris and near Oxford in England has treaded water.

And with a difficult start to the 2008 season, a win for Alonso in Singapore could well have been just what was needed to convince Renault to continue, according to paddock rumours.

Alonso's (legitimate) follow-up success in Japan would have only helped the argument to stick with F1.

The 2009 campaign has not been kind to Renault - after 13 races Alonso is trailing in 10th place in the drivers' standings while the team are eighth of ten in the constructors' title race - 126 points behind leaders Brawn GP.

What's more Alonso is set to jump ship and move to Ferrari in 2010 when the Italian team will be backed by Santander, Alonso's long-term partner.

So, the stakes could not be higher for Renault as they await the FIA's verdict on crashgate - a huge fine like the €100 million meted out to McLaren Mercedes in 2007 or lengthy suspension could well spell the end for the proud French outfit.

Their one hope going into tomorrow's hearing at the FIA headquarters in Paris is the decision by Briatore and Symonds to quit on Wednesday - resignations which they hope will lead to clemency by the FIA stewards.

Factbox - Famous cases of cheating in sport

On Wednesday, Renault said they would not contest charges they had fixed last year's Singapore Grand Prix by ordering a driver to crash following the departure of team boss Flavio Briatore.

Here are some famous cases of cheating in sport:

Chicago White Sox
After the heavily-favoured Chicago White Sox lost the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds, eight players were charged with being paid by gamblers to throw the championship. The scandal led to the creation of the autonomous post of commissioner of baseball, who banned the players for life including the famous Shoeless Joe Jackson.

Boris Onishchenko
Russian pentathlete Boris Onishchenko was sent home in disgrace from the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The Soviet Army Major was disqualified for hiding an electrical switch in his fencing sword which awarded him points when he had not in fact scored.

Diego Maradona
Argentina won a 1986 World Cup quarter-final against England in Mexico 2-1, Maradona scoring the first with his hand, the infamous 'Hand of God' goal.

Ben Johnson
The Canadian sprinter made headlines for his world-record 100 metres victory at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. After the race, however, he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol and was stripped of his gold medal.

Tonya Harding
American Harding was banned for life from ice skating for trying to cover up a 1994 incident in which her husband and an associate deliberately injured her rival Nancy Kerrigan.

Hansie Cronje
Former South Africa captain Cronje stunned the cricket world in 2000 after admitting he had accepted about $130,000 from bookmakers to influence the course of matches. He was subsequently banned for life. Cronje died in a plane crash in 2002 aged just 32.

Paralympics
In 2000 Spain's Paralympic basketball team were ordered to hand back gold medals won at the Sydney Games after 10 of their players were found to have no disability.

Floyd Landis.
The American cyclist became the first Tour de France winner to fail a drugs test during the race after testing positive for the male sex hormone testosterone. Landis, who denied using performance-enhancing drugs, was stripped of the title he won in 2006 and given a two-year ban which ended in 2009.

Harlequins
Dean Richards resigned as director of rugby at English club Harlequins and was suspended from world rugby for three years for his role in a fake blood injury to winger Tom Williams during a 2009 Heineken Cup game against Leinster.

Pete Rose
Rose, baseball's record-holder for hits, games played and at-bats, accepted a lifetime ban in 1989 when, as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, he was accused of gambling on games in which his team was playing. He denied betting on baseball games for the next 15 years, then admitted doing so in his 2004 autobiography "My Prison Without Bars."