Renault's appeal into its exclusion from the European Grand Prix is to be head by the
FIA International Court of Appeal in Paris today.
The team were banned from competing in Valencia following the incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, where a wheel came away from the car of
Fernando Alonso after he completed his first pit stop.
Race stewards found
Renault guilty of knowingly releasing the Spaniard from the pits with his front-right wheel not properly secured to the R29 – and then failing to inform Alonso of the problem.
As Alonso completed his out-lap, the aerodynamic device fitted to the wheel came away from the car before the wheel itself broke away and rolled to the side of the circuit, with Alonso bringing his car back to the pits on three wheels before ultimately retiring from the race.
Coming on the same weekend that
Felipe Massa was injured by debris that had fallen from Rubens Barrichello's car – and a week after F2 racer Henry Surtees was killed by a stray wheel at
Brands Hatch – stewards took the decision to ban
Renault from competing in Spain, with the team then launching an appeal into the decision.
Should the appeal - the result of which is due to be announced on Tuesday - go against the team, the Alonso will be forced to miss the event, while a successful appeal is likely to be followed swiftly by an announcement on who will replace Nelson Piquet in the second car.
After a difficult season and a half with the team, Piquet revealed he was to leave with a sensational outburst against team boss Flavio Briatore – claiming that the Italian had been his 'executioner' when it came to his F1 career.
GP2 racer Romain Grosjean, a member of Renault's test team, is the overwhelming favourite to replace the Brazilian.
