F1: Flavio Briatore Lifetime Motorsport Ban Overturned

Jan 6, 2010
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THE LIFETIME motorsport ban handed down to Flavio Briatore by the FIA in September last year has been overturned by a French court which has today reversed the penalty.

Briatore had been suspended after it was revealed he had ordered Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr to deliberately crash his car to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

The former Renault F1 boss subsequently took legal action to have the ban overturned and his name cleared.

The French court ruled this week that Briatore had not been given an opportunity to argue his case during the FIA inquiry, with the ban decided on the basis of an anonymous testimony.

 

"[It is] almost an exceptional outcome," Briatore's lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat said after the hearing.

"We are in a situation in which Mr. Briatore is reinstated in all his capacities to act in Formula One or motor sports."

 

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Briatore will not be able to return to the motorsport world immediately, however, with the FIA expected to appeal.

Renault F1, which received a suspended ban for its part in the incident, announced Team France A1GP team principal Eric Boullier had been confirmed as Briatore's replacement.


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Comments

  • Wardski [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    Motorsport corruption at its highest level. I would have thought FIA to have done everything in its power to get this out of the media asap..

    Seems FIA will need more than silver bullets, holy water and timber crosses to get rid of Briatore after all :-p
  • Brash [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    The thing that I find crazy is that they came down like a tonne of feathers on Briatore, slapped his partner in crime (whose name currently escapes me) on the wrist, and told Renault sternly "don't do that again." And Piquet Jr didn't even get that.

    As far as I'm concerned, the little bit of credibility that F1 had is now gone.

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