Sponsors pull plug on disgraced Renault

SINGAPORE: Disgraced Formula One giant Renault was forced to strip its cars of key sponsor logos Friday after Dutch banking group ING and Spanish insurance company Mutua Madrilena severed ties.

ING dropped a bombshell by announcing that its three-year deal would be terminated with immediate effect after the French car manufacturer was handed a two-year suspended ban for its part on the Singapore race-fix scandal.

It followed former driver Nelson Piquet Junior's claims that he had been ordered to deliberately crash at the 2008 race to allow teammate Fernando Alonso to win.