Briatore Appeals Formula1 Ban In Paris Today
November 24, 2009 by vmr
Filed under People & Events, Top Story
Former Renault F1 team boss and Formula1 driver manager Flavio Briatore heads to Paris Tuesday for his appeal to the French courts of the FIA World Motor Sport Council decision to ban him permanently from all FIA-sanctioned events, F1 specifically, and FIA-licensed driver management after it found he had participated in a conspiracy with Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Pat Symonds to fix the results of the 2008 Singapore GP.
While the Renault team also received a permanent ban from the sport, that punishment was, as this author believes, rightly suspended for two years, so long as the team behaves appropriately during that time. Briatore has entered into this appeal to the French courts, according to leaked court documents published in The Guardian, demanding the court reinstate him and force the FIA to pay him 1 million euros in damages. Briatore claims that the WMSC “was clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge” and that the body breached “the most basic rules of procedure and the rights to a fair trial.” As such, Briatore is asking that his permanent ban from all FIA-sanctioned sporting events, as he was (and is) not a FIA license holder and therefore not subject to the FIA’s ability to disqualify license holders, be overturned.
However, it is technically possible for the FIA to ban its licensees and officials from contact with Briatore, as the original WMSC decision states. Because of the careful language, the WMSC decision will likely be upheld, as they did not ban Briatore, but banned those under their control from contact with him. It is a slight variation in language that makes quite the difference.
Adding to the myriad issues with this appeal, the FIA released a condemnation of these press leaks when they first appeared nearly two weeks ago (as they did when their own body leaked information regarding the original case before the WMSC) saying, in part, that “the FIA rejects the allegations made in these leaks and confirms that the decision to impose a sanction against Mr. Briatore was made by an overwhelming majority of the attending World Motor Sport Council members” and that “in respect for the authority of the French Court, it would be entirely inappropriate for the FIA to comment further on this matter in advance of the hearing.”
Symonds is also a party to this appeal, though it appears as though he is demanding no restitution from the FIA and only an overturning of his five-year ban. The court has jurisdiction over the FIA decision because the FIA is a sanctioned sporting body under French law and headquartered in Paris. No word is yet available as to when the French court decision will be handed down.
Loading ...
Gary Anderson had this right… under the tremendous pressure searching for 1/10 of a second (because of identical car specs imposed by Max)… a Piquet idea suddenly became something that could be done and once it was decided it could be done, it became, if we can we should. The problem with the FIA ruling is that it did not OPENLY punish the wrong doer, did not OPENLY investigate exactly how they pulled this off (was there a voice coded message to Piquet when to crash?), and – in the end – the FIA had no control anyway over Briatore so they sanctioned everyone who touches him. If I was someone working for him, I’d say “Gee thanks FIA, punish me, an innocent bystander.” And I’d sue for loss of my livelihood.
And as for the track marshals… if they thought, for a micro-second, there was something fishy way back over a year ago, they should have investigated it there and then, not spew loads of “Ah, I thought so” and “It could only have been…” They have every voice recording, all the telemetry, everything needed to do their job. Once again, they failed. By the way, anyone investigating the identical spot crash this year?
Pat Symonds is riding the legal coat tails here because he was in on it and he did need an FIA license of some sort. I’m not surprised he’s not asking for money back.