The Race

And Colossally That's History! S3 E5: F1's infamous 'crashgate' scandal

Added 2025-05-02 13:44:28 +0000 UTC

On this week’s episode, Matt and Richard look back at the controversial ‘crashgate’ scandal, when it emerged that the Renault driver Nelson Piquet Junior deliberately crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to hand a major sporting advantage to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.

Matt and Richard look at the origins of the saga, peak into the murkiness around who came up with the idea and put it into action, explain how it came to be uncovered, and discuss the punishments handed out to those involved.

They also debate the morals of the incident itself - was it the worst example of cheating in sporting history (as some claimed at the time) or an example of F1 gamesmanship gone too far?

What do you want to know about crashgate? Drop a question in the comments and Matt and Richard will answer a couple next week and even more in the end of season Q&A episode!