Court victory sees Briatore consider his legal options

Flavio Briatore is considering taking legal action against Nelson Piquet Snr and Jnr following his court triumph in Paris.

The Tribunal de Grande Instance ordered the lifetime ban imposed by the FIA against Briatore to be overturned on Tuesday.

Motor sport's world governing body are currently looking into their options and considering whether to launch an appeal, a course of action Briatore has advised them against doing.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I wouldn't do it after such a verdict," said the former Renault team principal.

Briatore, however, may now go gunning for the Piquets as it was they who blew the whistle on the 'crashgate' scandal.

Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed his car at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in order to help team-mate Fernando Alonso take the win.

Briatore, along with former Renault director of engineering Pat Symonds, were then implicated in the conspiracy by the Piquets. The 59-year-old Italian did initially threaten legal action once the story emerged.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

That was soon forgotten after he vacated his position at Renault, who had opted not to contest the allegation made against them by the FIA that they fixed the result of the aforementioned race.

Asked if he would now take action against the Piquets, Briatore replied: "That's very likely. The bad that has been done to me won't be forgotten in one day."

Briatore's problem, however, is the Tribunal merely stated the FIA sanction was "irregular" as it did not comply with their statutes.

At no stage has the TGI reversed the FIA's finding that both Briatore and Symonds conspired to cause an intentional crash.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Briatore may also take action against those drivers who opted to break away from his management company, notably Heikki Kovalainen and Lucas di Grassi.

"Except for Kovalainen and di Grassi, my relationship with the other drivers has never changed," added Briatore, who also oversees the likes of Mark Webber.

Related topics:
News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice