Tuesday 5th January 2010
Briatore's Motorsport Ban Overturned
Former Renault F1 chief's lifetime ban gets overturned by French high court
Former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore could be set to return to motorsport after the French high court overturned the FIA's decision to ban him from the sport for life.
Briatore was issued with lifetime ban by the FIA for his part in the controversy surrounding the 2008 Singagpore Grand Prix, where Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed his car in order to force a safety car period.
Briatore's lawyers argued that the FIA had contravened its own international sporting code in some of the procedures it followed during the investigation into the affair.
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NotNormal
Original Poster
1,516 posts
83 months
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Must have been a big brown envelope to get that one sorted out............... 
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stephen300o
12,638 posts
97 months
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Good news, it was too heavy handed.
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stin
1,117 posts
91 months
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stephen300o said: Good news, it was too heavy handed. Why? The man is a cheat and therefore should not be part of the sport!
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Scuffers
10,408 posts
143 months
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stin said: stephen300o said: Good news, it was too heavy handed. Why? The man is a cheat and therefore should not be part of the sport! define cheat (in the context of F1)... I am not a fan of Briatore, but that does not mean I think the FAI were right in their political vendetta against him. what you might want to remember here is who's idea was it to crash in the first place....(by his own admission)
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CypherP
4,193 posts
61 months
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stin said: stephen300o said: Good news, it was too heavy handed. Why? The man is a cheat and therefore should not be part of the sport! Too right. To be honest, even if this does get over-turned, i don't think there will be a lot of people who will want to take him on. I certainly wouldn't want him working in a sport that i'm dedicated to, knowing what he's being up to before.
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angusc43
1,971 posts
77 months
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Don't know why this reply went to another thread starter so I've moved it here;
As others have said....... in a way I am glad. It's not that I condone what Briatore did - it's just that the FIA punishment felt more like a personal vendetta launched by Moseley than a measured reaction. In fact, very much like what happened to Mclaran a couple of years ago. As I say I don't admire Briatore's actions but I liked Moseley's vindictive reaction less. Let's hope the FIA finally gets its act together under Todt and starts acting more like a grown up authority.
PS as a QPR fan this is good news - the last thing QPR need right now is another dose on instability in the boardroom
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stin
1,117 posts
91 months
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Scuffers said: what you might want to remember here is who's idea was it to crash in the first place....(by his own admission) That is irrelevant! But on that subject, I understood that Nelson blamed Flav and Pat Which Pat denied then Pat blamed Nelson. Fact is he was the top dog in the team and knew what was going on so therefore is a cheat! He could have said no and stopped the whole thing but he wanted goldenballs to win more than he valued his own honesty and integrity
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PiB
1,066 posts
139 months
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How can a French court have jurisdiction over something that is more like a club membership list? Most driving clubs/associations have rules written in their contracts that you have to follow certain rules or risk not being allowed at/on the track.
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sprinter1050
10,118 posts
96 months
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Talking of people being (potentially) unemployable in F1 as a a result of sanctions etc... what happened to the Ferrari guy- Nigel Stepney (?)who was involved in the "specification sharing" episode with McLaren ? Likewise the guy at McLaren who allegedly saw the papers ? Are they both still in F1 ? If they are it sort of shows there's always a market for certain talents 
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Rollcage
9,188 posts
61 months
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PiB said: How can a French court have jurisdiction over something that is more like a club membership list? Most driving clubs/associations have rules written in their contracts that you have to follow certain rules or risk not being allowed at/on the track. FIA is based in Paris.
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PiB
1,066 posts
139 months
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So that means the FIA have to follow French law in every other country they race at?
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thatone1967
4,188 posts
60 months
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are we going to see Pat Symonds back also? Always seemed like a decent chap (prior to these events)
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Piglet
6,018 posts
124 months
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Cue pages of posts from those that don't understand the concept of abuse of process and can't differentiate between justice being done correctly and the acts of those involved.  I'm glad it's been overturned, I think I've also seen referenct to Pat Symond's being overturned as well. The FIA had no authority to impost a ban of this nature, duration and extent, they overstepped the mark in a significant manner.
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Rollcage
9,188 posts
61 months
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PiB said: So that means the FIA have to follow French law in every other country they race at? The FIA race rules are what they are - the issue here is that they punished a man who had not been tried properly, let alone found guilty. The original hearing was in Paris I think, so the court case location is merely a logical continuation of that. Briatore may well deserve some form of punishment, but that is not the issue in this case.
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Northern Munkee
4,033 posts
69 months
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sprinter1050 said: Talking of people being (potentially) unemployable in F1 as a a result of sanctions etc... what happened to the Ferrari guy- Nigel Stepney (?)who was involved in the "specification sharing" episode with McLaren ? Likewise the guy at McLaren who allegedly saw the papers ? Are they both still in F1 ? If they are it sort of shows there's always a market for certain talents Stepney was working for Gigawave running Nissan GTR's in the FIA GT championship. Coughlan I have no idea. Disappointing the Flab could now pursue his driver management company as a way back into F1, as surely no team will touch him! Wonder where it leaves Pat Symonds?
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stin
1,117 posts
91 months
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Piglet said: The FIA had no authority to impost a ban of this nature, duration and extent, they overstepped the mark in a significant manner. I disagree!! From what I understand (and if I’m wrong I retract the following) the FIA gave him a lifetime ban from any FIA sanctioned event! Why is that overstepping the mark? All they are saying is any event they are involved with he cannot be part off which I think they are well within there rights to do so and therefore guaranteeing the integrity, as best they can, of any FIA event. Perfectly legitimate in my eyes.
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Project 644
34,059 posts
57 months
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sprinter1050 said: Talking of people being (potentially) unemployable in F1 as a a result of sanctions etc... what happened to the Ferrari guy- Nigel Stepney (?)who was involved in the "specification sharing" episode with McLaren ? Likewise the guy at McLaren who allegedly saw the papers ? Are they both still in F1 ? If they are it sort of shows there's always a market for certain talents Nigel Stepney is either Technical Director of Team Manager of the Vitaphone Maserati MC12 team. Mike Coughlan was rumoured to be a part of the Stefan GP joke.
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bobberz
1,213 posts
68 months
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PiB said: How can a French court have jurisdiction over something that is more like a club membership list? Most driving clubs/associations have rules written in their contracts that you have to follow certain rules or risk not being allowed at/on the track. I was thinking along similar lines. How can a French court oveturn an INTERNATIONAL association? That would be like them being able to turn over the UN! (Okay maybe not in the same league, but you get the point.) Could the ban still be in effect outside of France? Sounds ridiculous to me.
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SamBorgman
59 posts
76 months
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Project 644 said: Nigel Stepney is either Technical Director of Team Manager of the Vitaphone Maserati MC12 team.
Mike Coughlan was rumoured to be a part of the Stefan GP joke. Last thing I heard Nigel Stepney was at Gigawave Motorsport.
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Scuffers
10,408 posts
143 months
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bobberz said: PiB said: How can a French court have jurisdiction over something that is more like a club membership list? Most driving clubs/associations have rules written in their contracts that you have to follow certain rules or risk not being allowed at/on the track. I was thinking along similar lines. How can a French court oveturn an INTERNATIONAL association? That would be like them being able to turn over the UN! (Okay maybe not in the same league, but you get the point.) Could the ban still be in effect outside of France? Sounds ridiculous to me. French court, EU law, take you pick...
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