 Piquet will not be prosecuted but Renault face a fine, ban or exclusion
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The future of the Renault Formula 1 team will be decided by the sport's governing body at a hearing on Monday.
The FIA could permanently exclude the team, who will not contest charges they ordered Brazilian Nelson Piquet to crash in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
However, it is thought more likely Renault will be issued with a heavy fine or suspended ban.
The deliberate crash resulted in a safety car period which helped Renault's Fernando Alonso win.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes banning Renault would be inflict major damage on Formula 1.
"For F1, it would be disastrous to lose a team and, in our case, an engine supplier," Horner told BBC Sport.
The Paris hearing will attempt to attribute responsibility for the Singapore "crash-gate" despite the departure of team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds.
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For any driver to deliberately crash a car is a shocking thing to do - it beggars belief, really
Christian Horner
Red Bull team boss |
Renault parted company last week with Briatore and Pat Symonds, who Piquet said had proposed the idea that he crash deliberately.
"The FIA has all the information to hand. I'm sure they'll act responsibly," Horner added.
"Renault have been a very strong engine supplier to Red Bull for the last three years. Hopefully a sensible solution can be found.
"It would be a great shame to lose Renault from F1 because of an unfortunate incident such as this one."
Two major car manufacturers have pulled out of F1 in the last nine months, with Honda quitting last December and BMW announcing in July they would stop at the end of the year.
There have long been rumours that both Renault and Toyota could follow them out of the sport.
Toyota has said it will not sign off its 2010 F1 budget until November and while Briatore shrugged off doubts about Renault's future, the Singapore scandal has revived them.
If Renault and Toyota pulled out, the only two car companies left in F1 would be Mercedes and Fiat through its Ferrari brand.
As the car companies supply engines to the entire grid this year, that could be a major problem, notwithstanding the return of privateer engine company Cosworth next season as supplier to the new teams Lotus, US F1, Campos and Manor.
Renault have a case to answer - Mosley
Horner added he shared the widespread sense of shock at the Singapore incident.
"Obviously it is shocking. For any driver to deliberately crash a car is a shocking thing to do. It beggars belief, really."
Piquet has immunity from prosecution and former team-mate Fernando Alonso is unlikely to face punishment.
The FIA agreed not to pursue action against the Brazilian for his role in uncovering the details of the scandal, while the organisation has said it has no reason to suspect Alonso knew anything of the plot apparently agreed between the team's two bosses and Piquet.
However, Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper reported that twice world champion Alonso has been sent a late summons to attend the hearing.
Neither a Renault team spokeswoman nor the governing body would confirm who would be present.
Alonso, who is widely expected to join Ferrari next year, has already given evidence to investigators who questioned him at last month's Belgian Grand Prix.
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ANDREW BENSON BLOG
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Having already pitted in the race, the timing of the safety car - necessary while Piquet's wrecked car was removed from the track - was critical to Alonso's victory in Singapore.
BBC Sport commentator Martin Brundle, writing in the Sunday Times, urged Renault to "go in with their hands up, admitting guilt".
"They must also demonstrate that they will install a new team principal of perceived integrity," added Brundle.
"I foresee a sizeable fine for the FIA coffers and a points penalty that will pain the team into next year in regard to revenue and pit lane position."
Former world rally champion Ari Vatanen, who is battling to succeed Max Mosley as the next FIA president, told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek programme Renault should not be thrown out of the sport.
Vatanen believes there are too many vested interests in the world council and that punishing Renault by expulsion would be "disproportionate."
He said: "Renault has got more or less their punishment in terms of image and having lost their top brass and we have to see the bigger context here.
"Don't just focus on this incident and look at what we can do about the FIA and about the sport.
"If Renault is thrown out it wouldn't have been a result of an independent justice. That's what we must get right - an absolutely independent justice otherwise people will always have a question. What was behind it?"
The FIA's decision will be reached in the same week that Formula 1 returns to Singapore for this season's race, with first practice due to begin at 1100 BST on Friday, 25 September.
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