ING dumps Renault F1
ING, the title sponsor of Renault F1, has severed all ties with the team immediately in the wake of the race-fixing scandal.
The Dutch bank announced earlier this year that it was to end its sponsorship of the team at the end of the season as part of cost-cutting drive but has decided to pull out four races early.
The firm’s decision follows the verdict of the World Motor Sport Council earlier this week, which ruled that Renault conspired to cause a deliberate crash in order to fix the result of last year’s Grand Prix in Singapore, an offence, it says “of unparalleled severity”.
The team was handed a two-year suspended band, while former team boss Flavio Briatore, who days earlier had resigned from his post, has also been barred from any involvement in FIA-sanctioned events indefinitely.
In a statement, ING says “it is deeply disappointed at this turn of events, especially in the context of an otherwise successful sponsorship”.
The bank’s decision is a second blow for Renault, which lost the support of Spanish insurance firm Mutua Madrilena yesterday (24 September).
Renault’s other sponsors include Total, Puma and Pepe Jeans.
