The Hunts face Congress and bankers after their fallThose bashful bullionaire brothers W. Herbert and Nelson Bunker Hunt showed up in public last week for the first time since their speculative bubble burst on "Silver Thursday," March 27. The Hunts were testifying before two congressional subcommittees looking into their metal market machinations over the past year. As the brothers told the tale, they were just worrying, like most Americans, about the worsening economy. As Bunker Hunt has reportedly said, "A billion dollars is not what it used ...

Nelson Mandela has always felt most at ease around children, and in some ways his greatest deprivation was that he spent 27 years without hearing a baby cry or holding a child's hand. Last month, when I visited Mandela in Johannesburg — a frailer, foggier Mandela than the one I used to know — his first instinct was to spread his arms to my two boys. Within seconds they were hugging the friendly old man who asked them what ...

Felipe Massa has been forced to backtrack on comments he made claiming that new Ferrari teammate Fernando Alonso was aware of Renault's plans to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Alonso won that race after the safety car was brought out when Renault's No. 2 driver Nelson Piquet Jr spun out on lap 14, and Massa subsequently claimed it cost him that year's world title as he finished one point behind champion Lewis Hamilton. Motorsport's ruling body the ...

Nelson Piquet Jr admitted he will have to wait until the dust has settled on the "crashgate" scandal before he can attempt a return to Formula One. The 24-year-old Brazilian attended a Motor Sport Council hearing on Monday over the conspiracy which saw him crash his Renault in the Singapore Grand Prix last year, where he subsequently revealed he is keen on a F1 comeback. Piquet, who was granted immunity by motorsport's world governing body (FIA) for his testimony, believes ...

FIA presidential candidate Ari Vatanen believes that Nelson Piquet Jr should have been punished for his role in Formula One's "Crashgate" affair. Vatanen told CNN: "I do not understand why Nelson Piquet Jr wasn't punished. For me his immunity was not correct." The former world rally champion, who is hoping to succeed FIA president Max Mosely was scathing of Piquet Jr's behavior throughout. "He only went public after he was sacked," Vatanen said. "He should have said no in the ...

Renault's former chief engineer Pat Symonds has spoken of his "eternal regret" at his involvement in the race-fixing conspiracy in last year's Singapore Grand Prix. But Symonds. who has been banned from Formula One for five years, claims driver Nelson Piquet Jr. first hatched the plan to deliberately crash to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race. Symonds' admission comes in documents released by the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) after the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) special hearing in ...

Renault are awaiting punishment in the race-fixing saga as the World Motor Sport Council held an extraordinary meeting in Paris on Monday to consider the latest scandal to hit Formula One. The 26-strong council met for 90 minutes to discuss allegations by former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. that he was ordered to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Renault initially denied the allegations, but last week team chief Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds sensationally ...

Renault's Formula One boss Flavio Briatore has quit his post after the team announced Wednesday that it would not dispute race-fixing allegations relating to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. In a statement on its Web site, the French team announced that its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, has also stepped down. Nelson Piquet Jr. claimed Briatore asked him to crash in order to maximize the chances of teammate Fernando Alonso winning the race. Last week Renault hit back against ...

The fight for this year's Formula One world title is effectively now a two-man battle after Rubens Barrichello led home world championship leader Jenson Button for a Brawn GP one-two in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. In taking his second win of the season, and 11th of his career, the 37-year-old Brazilian has now closed the gap on team-mate Button down to just 14 points. With Mark Webber crashing out on the opening lap and Sebastian Vettel ...

Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren Mercedes pole position in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza with a dramatic late lap to beat Force India's Adrian Sutil by just two-tenths of a second on Saturday. Defending world champion Hamilton took the 15th pole of his career after he clocked a last-gasp time of one minute and 24.066 seconds ahead of Sutil, who was 0.195secs behind. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in third and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen in fourth fill the second row, while championship ...