LONDON: British newspapers on Tuesday branded Renault's punishment over the "crashgate" affair lenient and questioned whether commercial pressures played a part in the FIA's decision.

Under headlines such as "Great Escape" and "Anger as Renault gets easy ride", newspapers said the soft punishment for Renault may have been aimed at convincing them to remain in the sport at a time when their commitment remains unclear.

"Certainly the expectation was that the team would escape a ban but no one had foreseen how lenient the punishment would be," motor racing correspondent Tom Cary said in the Daily Telegraph.