From GMM
The press hit out after Renault escaped almost unscathed from Monday's so-called 'crash-gate' hearing of the World Motor Sport Council.
In its judgement, the FIA tribunal said the rules breach was of "unparalleled severity", but the London newspaper The Times said the penalty was one of "unparalleled leniency".
"The FIA cannot have it both ways," said the daily broadsheet, comparing the two-year suspended disqualification and Renault's paying for the FIA investigation with McLaren's $100 million 'spy-gate' fine two years ago.
"The bill for the investigation is about $1.6 million, which makes Renault'ssanction roughly $98.4 million cheaper," it added.
Spain's El Mundo agreed, calling crash-gate "a scandal without precedent and almost without punishment".
The Daily Mail likened Renault's feat to "The Great Escape", arguing that the French team "should not only be permanently expelled from the track, but face serious criminal charges".
Singapore newspaper The Straits Times accused F1's governing body of "one of sport's biggest cop-outs" and said by not harshly penalising the deliberate crash, the FIA is telling F1's fans and marshals "that their lives are far less important than possibly losing the support of a car-making giant".
The New York Times agreed that the FIA had moved to safeguard "the participation of one of its most powerful and wealthy sponsors", and Britain's Daily Telegraph said "no one had foreseen quite how lenient the punishment would be".
FIA president Max Mosley, however, defended the decision to penalise only
the individual conspirators Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds rather than revert to the principle of collective responsibility.
"Renault has demonstrated that they have absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place so it would be wrong to impose an immediate penalty," he said in Paris, and argued that the lifetime disqualification from F1, albeit suspended for two years, is actually a harsh sanction.
"The blame has been placed where it should be placed and it's the right decision," Mosley added.
photo:Renault
The press hit out after Renault escaped almost unscathed from Monday's so-called 'crash-gate' hearing of the World Motor Sport Council.
In its judgement, the FIA tribunal said the rules breach was of "unparalleled severity", but the London newspaper The Times said the penalty was one of "unparalleled leniency".
"The FIA cannot have it both ways," said the daily broadsheet, comparing the two-year suspended disqualification and Renault's paying for the FIA investigation with McLaren's $100 million 'spy-gate' fine two years ago.
"The bill for the investigation is about $1.6 million, which makes Renault'ssanction roughly $98.4 million cheaper," it added.
Spain's El Mundo agreed, calling crash-gate "a scandal without precedent and almost without punishment".
The Daily Mail likened Renault's feat to "The Great Escape", arguing that the French team "should not only be permanently expelled from the track, but face serious criminal charges".
Singapore newspaper The Straits Times accused F1's governing body of "one of sport's biggest cop-outs" and said by not harshly penalising the deliberate crash, the FIA is telling F1's fans and marshals "that their lives are far less important than possibly losing the support of a car-making giant".
The New York Times agreed that the FIA had moved to safeguard "the participation of one of its most powerful and wealthy sponsors", and Britain's Daily Telegraph said "no one had foreseen quite how lenient the punishment would be".
FIA president Max Mosley, however, defended the decision to penalise only
the individual conspirators Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds rather than revert to the principle of collective responsibility.
"Renault has demonstrated that they have absolutely no moral responsibility for what took place so it would be wrong to impose an immediate penalty," he said in Paris, and argued that the lifetime disqualification from F1, albeit suspended for two years, is actually a harsh sanction.
"The blame has been placed where it should be placed and it's the right decision," Mosley added.
photo:Renault