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Briatore targets Piquet next
Source: Agencies |
January 7, 2010, Thursday
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FORMER Renault team boss Flavio Briatore said it was very probable he would take legal action against Nelson Piquet after having his life ban from Formula One overturned.
Briatore was banned in September by the FIA after former Renault driver Piquet told the ruling body he had been ordered to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
A French court ruled on Tuesday that the punishment was illegally imposed by the sport's governing body. Asked about now suing Piquet, Briatore told Wednesday's Gazzetta dello Sport: "Very probably. I won't forget the pain I've suffered in a day."
The FIA's lawyer Jean-Francois Prat said the FIA would "very likely" appeal the decision to overturn the ban. The governing body also said the decision was not enforceable until all appeal options had been exhausted and noted the court had not reversed the finding that Briatore had conspired to cause an intentional crash.
Despite this, Briatore said he would continue to manage F1 drivers "like always" and threatened to go to court against those who had left him.
"Apart from Heikki Kovalainen and Lucas Di Grassi, my relationship with the other drivers has never changed," he said. "Now we will look at the situation with lawyers to see if we can take legal action against those who have broken contracts with us."
Return unlikely
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said Briatore is unlikely to return to Formula One any time soon.
"He's happy he's won, of course. But he didn't say he wanted to come back to Formula One, and I don't think he will," the Briton said.
"It's not over by a long way," added Ecclestone of the legal battles ahead. "Just because a bloody judge has said what he's said doesn't make any difference. Nothing's happened.
"The court said it was wrong, so the FIA can start all over again with a new hearing, and it will go on and on and on. That's the worst thing. It would be better if they all get round a table and see what they can do."
"There's no reason he can't carry on as a manager if he wants," Ecclestone suggested. "But it would be difficult for someone who has done something wrong to return in his old job or something similar."
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali put it more bluntly in an interview with Italy's La Stampa earlier in the week: "People don't like reheated soup. He will have to find another opportunity."
Briatore was banned in September by the FIA after former Renault driver Piquet told the ruling body he had been ordered to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help his Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
A French court ruled on Tuesday that the punishment was illegally imposed by the sport's governing body. Asked about now suing Piquet, Briatore told Wednesday's Gazzetta dello Sport: "Very probably. I won't forget the pain I've suffered in a day."
The FIA's lawyer Jean-Francois Prat said the FIA would "very likely" appeal the decision to overturn the ban. The governing body also said the decision was not enforceable until all appeal options had been exhausted and noted the court had not reversed the finding that Briatore had conspired to cause an intentional crash.
Despite this, Briatore said he would continue to manage F1 drivers "like always" and threatened to go to court against those who had left him.
"Apart from Heikki Kovalainen and Lucas Di Grassi, my relationship with the other drivers has never changed," he said. "Now we will look at the situation with lawyers to see if we can take legal action against those who have broken contracts with us."
Return unlikely
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone said Briatore is unlikely to return to Formula One any time soon.
"He's happy he's won, of course. But he didn't say he wanted to come back to Formula One, and I don't think he will," the Briton said.
"It's not over by a long way," added Ecclestone of the legal battles ahead. "Just because a bloody judge has said what he's said doesn't make any difference. Nothing's happened.
"The court said it was wrong, so the FIA can start all over again with a new hearing, and it will go on and on and on. That's the worst thing. It would be better if they all get round a table and see what they can do."
"There's no reason he can't carry on as a manager if he wants," Ecclestone suggested. "But it would be difficult for someone who has done something wrong to return in his old job or something similar."
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali put it more bluntly in an interview with Italy's La Stampa earlier in the week: "People don't like reheated soup. He will have to find another opportunity."
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