Formula One was plunged into a new cheating crisis on Sunday night after it emerged that the sport’s governing body is investigating claims that a Renault driver was ordered to crash his car to help his team-mate to win a race.Even as Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix, which was won by Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari, was under way, the FIA confirmed that it is launching an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix last September.
The investigation marks the second “cheating” scandal to hit Formula One this season after Lewis Hamilton and a senior member of the McLaren Mercedes team were found to have lied to the stewards at the Australian Grand Prix in March.
In Sunday’s race in Spa, Hamilton and Jenson Button, the championship leader, were forced to retire after a first-lap collision.
