When our ancestors said, 'Hanging is too good for him,' they meant it. Hey, it was free entertainment as well, you had to pay to see bear baiting, but that was not so predictable. That is the trouble with public execution as entertainment, you know the ending.

Symonds and Briatore were not just called into the boss's office for a chat. There were high-powered teams of lawyers who negotiated the exact words of Renault's communique. We know, for example, only that Symonds and Briatore no longer work for Renault, we have no idea about how clauses in their contracts were invoked. We do not know whether they are free to work for anyone else or, if they are, when they may do so.

When all is said and done, we know very little. We can assume they were sacked, but perhaps not in the way that a farm hand or check-out girl is sacked. It is also reasonable to assume that Briatore and Symonds did not part company with Renault on exactly the same terms. Symonds has information and experience which has a value, Briatore is like a comedian who is no longer funny.

Briatore still works in motor sport, through GP2 and as a manager of drivers. Symonds, an engineer who can work in many a high-tech field, was offered immunity. No prizes for guessing who was the main target.

Briatore is a part owner of Queens Park Rangers FC, and is chairman of the board. QPR is a London club which has enjoyed its moments of glory and which currently plays in the League Championship, the level below the Premiership though with access to the Premiership, football not having succumbed to the franchise system. Flav's mate, Bernie, is a major stakeholder in QPR, whose stadium occupies prime land close to the centre of London.

It is possible for the Football League to remove Briatore under a catch-all rule which could deem him not to be a fit and proper person to hold such a post. There are newspaper reports that the League is following Crashgate developments with interest.

A sign of Flav's desperation was when he started making insinuations about Nelson Junior sharing a flat with a male friend. Fresh out of college, I shared flats with friends, as did many of us. Television sitcom would be an arid area without friends sharing property.

When Flavio slagged off the second Piquet, he broke a code. At the heart of every activity there is a community, and there is gossip. The rule is that the gossip stays within the community, unless it is made public by, say, a court case.

I have heard stories about Briatore which, even if I could prove, I still would not write, it would break the code. If you want to mix it in motor racing, you leave all other baggage at the door.

Robin Herd once told me that the easiest people to deal with were criminals - March Engineering lost its market in the IMSA series when the DEA got focused. The criminals had to race wheel to wheel, they could not employ goons. Motor racing became a validation.

Briatore has broken the code, he has used gossip to divert attention from himself, which is cheap, tawdry and downright stupid. He is stupid to think that making snide remarks about a former employee would put anyone off the scent. It is equally as stupid to break the code for that is to lose sympathy in the community.

We now have him claiming to have stepped down to save the team. That will generate a few column inches, but nobody who matters will believe it. Nobody who knows Briatore's history would consider him a likely candidate for noble self-sacrifice. The German newspaper, Bild, reports that he has had convictions in Italy for fraud.

Renault could sue its former employees, and that includes Baby Nelson, but is unlikely to do so. The world's fourth largest car maker will not want to keep the matter in the public eye. On the other hand, criminal charges could be brought against all three men. Piquet has been granted immunity by the FIA, but not by Singapore which is known for zero tolerance of crime. Were I any one of the three I would have my lawyers examine extradition treaties.

The implications of this saga will run and run. It is not only the biggest scandal in motor sport history, it has few equals in any other sport, except boxing and horse racing.

I guess that the reason why Ferrari has not announced its drivers for 2010 is that it wants to see how Alonso comes out of the hearing. He went along with a seemingly illogical decision to refuel after only 12 laps. The Spygate affair showed him to be utterly ruthless as did his threat of blackmailing Ron Dennis.

The best possible time for Ferrari to have announced its drivers for 2010 would have been at Monza. Normally that would have stolen the headlines. Issuing a press release does not have the same sizzle.

Alonso was granted immunity over Spygate. There are many whispers and fingers pointed at him over Crashgate. I cannot be the only person who noticed how accessible Fernando was to the media at Monza, and how pleasant and modest he was. Martin Brundle even commented on this during the TV coverage.