Briatore & Symonds quit Renault

In news that is about to shock the motorsports world, Renault team boss Flavio Briatore and Executive Director of Engineering, Pat Symonds have left the French team. They were in the middle of the 'Crashgate' saga where former driver Nelson Piquet had admitted to crashing on purpose at the Singapore GP 2008 in order to help Fernando Alonso to win the race. Briatore termed it as lies but in a statement today Renault announced the leaving of both personnel. Renault have also said that they will not challenge the charges against them.

Renault sacked Piquet earlier this season after he failed to score any points during the season. Piquet was hell-bent on getting revenge against Briatore, and it appears that he has managed to do so, but at what cost? his own career? It will really amaze me if any other team does take Piquet now. If anyone should be punished it should be him for being an idiot and crashing.

Renault are gonna suffer terribly from this, as Briatore and Symonds have been instrumental in taking the team where they are now. They were also responsible for winning the 2005-06 championships with Fernando Alonso at the wheel.

Sadly, Formula One is reeling from one controversy after another this year and it just does not seem like there is an end at sight.

Fisi to Ferrari, now why not Chandhok to Force India

The past week has been a rollercoaster of a week not only for Giancarlo Fisichella but for India as well. Force India being on the podium for the first time was truly a memorable moment and we just have to go one step higher to hear our national anthem being played for the first time at a Formula One race weekend. Now Fisichella has chosen to take the opportunity of a lifetime to join Ferrari as a test and reserve driver next year. But what is even better is that he will be driving for Ferrari for the rest of the season, starting at Monza next weekend.

This could not have been scripted any better - Italian driving for an Italian team at the Italian Grand Prix. Will Fisi be quick? I certainly think so and he will be riding high on the fact that he could have won the Belgian GP. But again this will be a new team so it could be interesting. One thing is for sure he will be using the KERS that cost him the race last time around.

Now lets get to the part that is troubling me the most. Force India have a vacancy, why can't we have Karun Chandhok in the second car. I do understand that Vitantonio Liuzzi is under contract but he will have a confirmed seat next year anyway. Another point is that Liuzzi has not driven in F1 since 2007. Karun has been driving in GP2 for the past couple of races and at all the tracks that the F1 fraternity goes to as well. The cars are very similar and The GP2 cars are a mere 6-7 secs slower than the F1 and I believe Karun would be a perfect fit. Many drivers have made the switch quite easily including Sebastien Buemi this year and Renault trusted former GP2 driver Romain Grosjean and moved him up to their F1 car two races ago and he has made the transition briliantly. It is easier to make the change from GP2 to F1 rather than not driving for 2 years to F1.

Let us look at the main point - Karun is an Indian who will be driving for an Indian team. It does not get better than this. We are a proud country where sports is religion. Force India will have a double or tripe their fan base in the country. I am not saying put Karun in the second car because he is an Indian - I am saying put him in the car because he can do a good job and we love to support our sportsman. We Indian want to support our home hero.

Bernie Eccelstone has confirmed that he will be in India next month to lay the foundation stone for the Indian GP. What better way to promote it than by having an Indian driver on the grid for the remainder of the season.

I can only see good for the sport, good for the country and good for the team coming out of Karun driving for Force India for the remainder of the season. What we need now is for the whole country - fans, media, government, sponsors to get behind Karun at a time when he could use our help and push him into that Force India seat.

Mr. Mallya if you are hearing us, all we are saying is give the boy a chance and this is the ideal platform to try him out.