Briatore: Max was ‘blinded by desire for revenge’
November 12, 2009 by SJ Skid
Filed under People & Events, Top Story
It’s time to forget about all those empty 2010 seats and buckle up for the real off-season show: Briatore vs. Mosley.
The Guardian newspaper has managed to see some of the court documents from Flavio Briatore’s case against the FIA. In them, he alleges that Max Mosley was “clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge” and he asks for his ban to be overturned and about 1 million euro in compensation.
The case comes before the courts on November 24.
Here is some more details about the case and arguments:
The Guardian also learnt yesterday that Pat Symonds, Renault’s former executive director of engineering, will join Briatore’s appeal, attempting to have his own five-year ban overturned on the grounds that the FIA, the international motor sport federation, and its World Council conducted the original hearings in an improper fashion.
[snip]
Briatore claims that many of the procedures adopted during the original investigation and hearing were contrary to both the FIA’s International Sporting Code and the laws of France, where the federation has its headquarters. The 58-year-old Italian’s statement of claim refers to “the excessive and abusive power clearly exercised by both the World Council, in particular, and the FIA, in general” and “the breach by the World Council of the most basic rules of procedure and the rights to a fair trial”.
[snip]
The “obligation to boycott” Briatore, the statement says, is not among the sanctions authorised by the Sporting Code. According to Professor Didier Poracchia, a specialist in sporting law at the University of Aix-Marseille, “the most serious sanction available to the World Council is disqualification” – entailing the withdrawal of the licence of the offending party. As a general manager and driver’s agent, however, Briatore has never been required to hold a licence.
In failing to separate the prosecuting, investigating and judging roles, Briatore claims, the FIA breached the rules concerning fair trials established by the European Convention on Human Rights. “The decisions to carry out an investigation and to submit it to the World Council were taken by the same person, Max Mosley, the FIA president,” the statement says. Mosley “assumed the roles of complainant, investigator, prosecutor and judge”.
I’ll leave it to any lawyers out there to provide any initial thoughts on the strength of Flavio’s argument. I do know it always has been bad policy to bet against Max, but two things mitigate that this time around: 1. Max is no longer in charge of the FIA, so I’m not sure if he will be able to wield the same control over its response; and 2. It’s Flavio, the other guy one would not quickly bet against.
To be a bit melodramatic, we are talking about a battle of the titans here.
Where this case will really affect F1 fans, or at least tantalize us, regards the 2008 Singapore incident that led to Flavio’s ban and any other arguments Flav makes about what drove Max. Those include the threatened breakaway series.
Early suggestions are it will be juicy:
During 2009, the statement alleges, there had been “some extremely violent disputes” between Briatore, representing the Formula One Teams Association, and Mosley. “Mr Briatore had, in the constructors’ names, in fact threatened the FIA and the FOM (Formula One Management) group … to instigate a parallel competition, organised without the FIA and without the FOM as rights manager.”
The disputes over the threat of a breakaway series, it continues, led Mosley to abandon his plan to stand for a fifth term as president in last month’s election and forced Bernie Ecclestone, the chief executive of the FOM, to grant the constructors more favourable financial terms for their participation.
Ecclestone, it adds, “took part and was able to vote in the deliberations of the World Council, and was a directly interested party in Renault not suffering a sanction that might discourage it from continuing its participation in the Formula One world championship and could, moreover, be hostile to Mr Briatore as a result of stances taken by him during the previous year on behalf of the constructors involved in Formula One.”
We all knew this case was going to be big. It seems to be shaping up as advertised.
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Hey SJ, do you think this will end this year or will we have to wait for this to materialize next year and go through this hoopla all over again?
And I wonder why is he asking for just 1 mill Euros. If Flav think he’s been done for unjustifiably, then I think he should ask for a heck of a lot more than 1 million.
I wish I knew. As I said, I’m very hesitant to bet against Max on anything. My experience with court cases — purely as an observer — is that the longer it goes, the better for the party in the FIA’s position.
And that means this drags out. We’ll have to see.
Could the money be an intentional concession, so to speak? Something Flavio demans, but doesn’t mind giving up, provided he’s allowed back into business quick-smart…
My opinion? I hope Flav gets the 1 million and then the jury adds, oh I don’t know, another 100 million or so. Just to make sure Max finally learns to pay a piper… oh, no, wait, I forgot, Max only can get it if he pays for it. Anyone got a whip? These are hard times…
Prīmā faciē , Briatore has got it all sorted properly, the timing of the case, documentation of series of events and important fact about Max’s role as – complainant, investigator, prosecutor and judge.
If this indeed works out well and he gets the ruling in his favor, will F1 indeed clean up its act and clean up this whole culture of mutiple and conflicting roles that many of its players have been playing for ages?
Can some of impacted drivers like JPM, Piquet, Trulli, Heikki, Fisi take Briatore to court as his dual role of team principle and driver manager has indeed impacted the career of these drivers one way or other at some point of their career.
I was thinking to add Webber to the mix as at one point of time Flavio was coaxing him to sign for Renault @ one point wasn’t he :D
F1 is really intriguing sport but for Sunday Afternoons :P
I can’t blame Flav for fighting this, and I do think this will be a fascinating battle, if only because we will learn many more juicy bits and pieces. Oh, and we also get to see two of the most ruthless powerbrokers in F1 go at it.
But, alas, I think we will ultimately see Flav get his arse handed to him once again. Max’s ability to line up his ducks into neat little rows is astounding and I would be very surprised if his evil work were to come undone at this stage.
Looking at it from an idiots point of view, it is obvious that “the man is holding us back man, the system is working against us man”.
Its obvious Max had far too much power and too many roles to play in this saga, however I feel that thoses roles and power is exactly what will help him beat Flav in this case.
Its one of those funny (but not really funny) political things. It is obvious that Max abused his power, but as the layman would say… “What can I do”?
Yes Flav should be punished, as should Pat, so should Jr “he who shall not be named” Jr. Flav is on the back foot, but I hope the judge looks at the questions before him and tries not to judge Flav and Pat on their actions during 2008… Did Max abuse his power? and… Did Max have the right to do what he did?
Regarding the money. I think the 1Mil is just to have something there, If I were in Flavs case I would hold the higher ground and not ask for anything except for court costs and my job back.
Th FIA angry at leaked documents? Welcome to the oldest FIA trick in the book. They should talk! They may not have invented the act but have played this game with stunning acuity for many years.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
It’s so disappointing to see FIA issue a statement at all. Any reputable organisation would issue a ‘no comment’ in any ongoing legal proceedings.
Oh, hold on…
Okay, Max isn’t supposed to be there any more and yet it’s all still run like a little fiefdom, complete with all the usual publicly aired spats. Max is fascinating to see in operation, but the idea of his lingering influence is distinctly unsavoury.
If Todt wants to show that he’s the future, he should get a handle on FIA’s fly-catching gob of a press/PR dept and refrain from these public whinges, it’s childish.
As a manufacturer, I’d have no confidence in FIA. As a fan, I’m slightly disappointed. Mad Max arguably had his excuses, but Todt??