Pat Symonds and his Crashgate co-conspirator and former Renault colleague Flavio Briatore at the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix © Sutton Images Enlarge Related Links Teams:

Renault

Pat Symonds, the former Renault engineer who was banned from Formula One until 2013 for his part in the Crashgate scandal, is already working in the sport, according to a report in the News of the World.

Under the terms of the exclusion, Symonds is allowed to have a non-operational role, and this has enabled him to work with the Virgin team through his company Neutrino Dynamics.

"Pat is working as an independent consultant, and he's advising us," Virgin's president Graeme Lowdon told Autosport. "He's not coming to the races or anything like that. It's a very positive thing for us as he has got a huge amount of experience, and experience is a scarce resource for us as a newer team. I'm sure Pat can bring a lot of value to the team."

An FIA spokesman told the Daily Telegraph: "The FIA reached an agreement with Mr Pat Symonds in April 2010 that he would be barred from returning to the sport of Formula One until the end of 2012. However, it was also agreed at the time that Mr Symonds could act in a consultancy capacity via his own company Neutrino Dynamics. This fact was extensively reported in the media at the time. Therefore the FIA has no further comment to make on this matter."