Flavio Briatore, the former Renault principal banished from Formula One for his part in the Crashgate scandal, will allege that the World Motor Sport Council of the FIA, chaired by Max Mosley, was “clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge” when he appeals against his life ban from motor sport in a Paris court later this month.
Documents seen by the Guardian reveal that Briatore is asking for a total annulment of the FIA’s instruction to its members – race organisers, teams or drivers – not to have any dealings with him. He is also demanding a minimum of €1m (£900,000) in compensation for the damage to his reputation. The case will be heard by France’s high court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance, on 24 November.
Pat Symonds, Renault’s former executive director of engineering, will join Briatore’s appeal, attempting to have his own five-year ban overturned on the grounds that the FIA, the international motor sport federation, and its World Council conducted the original hearings in an improper fashion.
Briatore and Symonds were accused by their former driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, of instructing him to crash during the 2008 Singapore grand prix to secure a victory for the team’s No1 driver, Fernando Alonso. Whereas Briatore denied all knowledge of a conspiracy, Symonds alleged that the idea had been thought up by the driver himself. The affair came to light as a result of Piquet’s allegations after he had been sacked by the team in August. Guardian.co.uk
“The decisions to carry out an investigation and to submit it to the World Council were taken by the same person, the FIA president,” the paper said, quoting a statement in the case.
Mosley “assumed the roles of complainant, investigator, prosecutor and judge,” the statement claimed.
During 2009, it alleged, there had been “some extremely violent disputes” between Briatore, representing the Formula One Teams Association, and Mosley.
The disputes centred on the threat of a breakaway series to Formula One, and led Mosley to abandon his plan to stand for a fifth term as FIA head. AFP
