Reputation: ING and Mutua Madrilena pull away from Renault F1

There's a very interesting question that has, so far, not been posed about the Renault F1 team: who insures the cars and drivers?

If insurance is provided by ING and / or Mutua Madrilena as part of their sponsorship package, then one can hardly blame them for being more than a little annoyed.

What if Piquet had been injured in the staged crash? Would a claim have been made on the insurance? Was any claim made for damage to the car? No doubt Singapore had insured their fencing and marshalls - and despite the warning that motor-racing is dangerous and spectators attend at their own risk, there is little doubt that there was at least some cover in place. Who would have picked up that bill?

The ramifications from the Piquet crash are still coming up.

ING and Mutua Madrilena are so incensed that they have, as of yesterday, withdrawn their support for the team. The Spanish company is especially blunt: "Mutua Madrilena believes the conduct of the relevant people in the team was of extraordinary seriousness and not only compromised the integrity of the sport but also put the physical safety of spectators, drivers and circuit personnel at risk."

Decoding that message reveals that the insurance company clearly considers that such conduct can lead to the risk of massive claims which it would find difficult to lay off against drivers and teams.

The idea of a driver deliberately crashing is, simply, outrageous. Of course, strategic bumping-off the track has been a feature of motor racing for ever and will continue to be so despite rules to counter it.

But the deliberate high-speed accident designed to be so serious as to bring out the safety car is in another league altogether, says Bryan Edwards of our sister publication The Chief Officers' Network which covers top level motorsport in its general interest section.

For ING and Mutua Madrilena, the question is mostly about reputation. Do they want their name associated with such activity. The answer is "no," even though this weekend may be the one on which there is the most focus on their livery. They take the view that there is such a thing as bad publicity, despite the commonly held opposite view.

And a high-profile withdrawal will guarantee that they are talked about as disassociating themselves from bad behaviour.

But one thing remains: the whole team, not just the cars, is decked out in the colours and logos of ING as name sponsor. Quite how that will be dealt with will not be known until the cars roll out for practice later today.

Perhaps Duct Tape would like to step in and offer to cover up the now obsolete branding.