18 years ago, Fernando Alonso won the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix from 15th on the grid, in what initially appeared to be one of Formula 1's most dramatic victories before a major investigation the following year exposed what became known as the Crashgate scandal.
The Marina Bay race was Formula 1's first Grand Prix to be held under floodlights. Alonso endured a poor qualifying session with Renault and started the race on an unusually light fuel load. That strategy brought him into the pits on lap 12, just two laps before team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr crashed into the wall at Turn 17.
The Safety Car was deployed, while the regulations in place during the 2008 season closed the pit lane to cars still circulating. The situation left several drivers ahead of Alonso stranded on worn tyres and with low fuel. When the pit lane eventually reopened, some drivers were forced to take stop-and-go penalties.
Alonso was in the perfect position because he had already completed his pit stop before the incident. He emerged as the race leader without having to pass a single car, a major advantage at the Marina Bay street circuit, where overtaking opportunities were limited. Alonso held the lead to the finish, with Nico Rosberg second and Lewis Hamilton third.
The result remained unchallenged for almost a year. That changed after Piquet lost his Renault seat midway through the following season. In testimony to the FIA in July and August 2009, Piquet said team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds had instructed him to crash deliberately. According to his testimony, Turn 17 had been selected because limited recovery access would ensure a Safety Car intervention.
FIA investigators subsequently cross-checked the account against telemetry data. The World Motor Sport Council met on 21 September 2009 and found Renault guilty, with its championship exclusion suspended for two years. Briatore received an indefinite ban from the sport, while Symonds was given a five-year ban. Piquet was granted full immunity for his cooperation with the investigation, while Alonso was formally cleared of any knowledge of the plan.
The case changed again when a French court overturned the original sanctions against Briatore and Symonds in 2010 on procedural grounds. The pair later reached a settlement with the FIA and agreed to remain outside operational Formula 1 roles until the end of 2012. The pit-lane closure rule that had enabled the strategy was also removed for 2009 and replaced by a delta-time system during Safety Car periods.
Questions over who first proposed the deliberate crash were never fully resolved. Alonso's 2008 victory therefore remains permanently linked to one of Formula 1's most controversial scandals, which ultimately contributed to changes in how the sport manages Safety Car periods and pit-lane access.
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