Flavio Briatore has claimed his decision to leave
Renault F1 was made purely in the interests of the team.
A brief statement on Wednesday announced that
Renault would not dispute the race fix allegations for which it must face an
FIA hearing in Paris Monday, while adding that both team boss Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds had 'left the team'.
It wasn't made clear if the pair had resigned or been fired, but Briatore - who steered
Renault to two world titles with
Fernando Alonso - has made his motives clear.
"I was just trying to save the team. It's my duty,” he told
The Mirror. “That's the reason I've finished."
Speaking separately,
Renault chief Patrick Pelata said that Briatore resigned because he felt 'morally responsible' for the race-fixing incident, which stops short of saying Briatore had any direct involvement - as has been alleged by Nelson Piquet Jr.
Piquet Jr deliberately crashed in the early stages of last year's Singapore Grand Prix, thereby helping team-mate
Fernando Alonso win the team's first race of the year.