Crash-gate ends Piquet's career

By burning his bridges behind him and squealing on his team because he was fired, no team will ever put Piquet in a ride again. Besides, he is not really that quick

(GMM) No matter the outcome of the 'crash-gate' scandal, Nelson Piquet's career is over, Martin Brundle wrote in his column for The Times newspaper on Saturday.

With the race-fixing allegations and the September 21 hearing still the main topic of conversation at Monza, Brundle – the former grand prix driver and now commentator for British television – said he did not sympathize with the whistleblower.

"Piquet Jr is unemployable now," said Brundle. "A driver who would willingly and intentionally crash his car? Unforgiveable."

Brundle, who started about 160 grands prix until the mid 90s, said he does not sympathize with Piquet's claim that he agreed to crash on purpose to please his paymasters and win a new contract.

"Try waiting the whole winter to sign a race-by-race contract days before the first grand prix of the season — that's stress, but still not enough to crash a car intentionally," said the Briton, presumably referring to his agreement to race with McLaren in 1994.

For the record, Brundle does believe that Piquet crashed on purpose.

"Talking with a group of eminent people, Niki Lauda asked, 'Do you think it was an intentional crash?' and I instinctively replied: 'Yes.' He said: 'I agree completely'," recalled Brundle.