Flavio Briatore is reportedly considering legal action in an attempt to overturn the ‘lifetime ban’ from motorsport that he was handed on Monday by the World Motor Sport Council for his role in the Renault race-fixing scandal.
As the fallout from the Paris hearing continued on Tuesday, reports in Italy quoted the former Renault team principal as saying he was “distraught” by his ban, which was described by Carlos Gracia, the head of Spain’s motor sport federation and an FIA World Council member, as “excessive” and “disproportionate”.
“There was no clear evidence to indict, and he was also unable to defend himself,” Gracia said. “Moreover, I would not rule out him using the regular courts as he has been left without a means of earning a living. I insist, what has happened to Briatore seems disproportionate.”
Briatore has always maintained that he is innocent of ordering Piquet Jnr to crash his car and even told reporters at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza two weeks ago that he had launched criminal proceedings in Paris against the Brazilian and his father, Nelson Piquet Snr, for “attempted blackmail” and “false allegations”. It is still unclear whether Briatore is pursuing those claims.
Renault’s former director of engineering Pat Symonds, meanwhile, who was also implicated by Piquet Jnr and who was handed a five-year ban by the WMSC on Monday, claimed in his interviews with FIA investigators that it was the Brazilian who first came up with the idea of crashing deliberately. The Brazilian denied the claims. Telegraph.co.uk
The embattled Italian’s role at Championship club Queens Park Rangers has subsequently come under scrutiny after Football League officials confirmed that they are looking into the circumstances surrounding his life ban from F1.
There was support for the troubled tycoon voiced from some F1 quarters, however.
Head of Spanish motor sport federation Carlos Gracia, a member of the FIA world motor sport council who condemened Briatore in Paris on Monday, admitted he was surprised by the ‘excessive’ nature of the Italian’s punishment. Daily Mail
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