By Chia Han Keong

NO OUTRIGHT ban, no point deduction, not even a fine.

By showing excessive leniency to the Renault Formula One team whose top bosses conspired in one of the biggest acts of cheating in the history of sports, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is guilty of one of sport's biggest cop-outs.

It should have suspended the French car manufacturers right away. Instead, it merely imposed a suspended ban on the apologetic team.

It should have deducted whatever points Renault have gleaned in this year's championship. Yet, it did not even strip the team of their Singapore Grand Prix title, which they had cheated to win last year.

It should have fined Renault far more heavily than the US$100 million (about S$150 million) it meted out to McLaren for industrial espionage in 2007. But Renault escaped without monetary losses.

Yes, the instigators - team principal Flavio Briatore and director of engineering Pat Symonds - were thrown out of F1.

But the driver who executed the pre-mediated crash, Nelson Piquet Jr, got off scot-free. So did teammate Fernando Alonso, who benefited from the crash by winning the race.

What kind of message does this send to all other drivers? That they can gamble with death by planning crashes and hope to benefit from them?

More crucially, what message does this send to F1's fans and marshals? That their lives are far less important than possibly losing the support of a carmaking giant?

Renault are let off because F1 does not want to lose another "famous brand name", after Honda's exit last year and the imminent departure of BMW at the end of this season.

Indeed, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone had given a hint of the light penalty before he entered yesterday's hearing in Paris, saying: "I think we need to show balance.

"What (Renault) did was very serious. There can be no excuse, but they have acted quickly to get rid of the culprits, and that must be borne in mind."

He is sadly mistaken. Renault should have been made an example of, with severe penalties to let other teams know the dire consequences of such acts of cheating.

It does not matter if Renault insist they were not in on the antics of Briatore and Symonds.

Just as athletics slaps hefty bans on athletes on performance- enhancing drugs, it is the symbolic act of punishment that preserves the sport's integrity.

Instead, F1 and FIA got bogged down by fears over the sport's commercial viability, and went for a cop-out that will damage motor-racing far more severely than what Briatore and Symonds did.

hankeong@sph.com.sg

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