- Crashgate
Briatore plans to take legal action against Piquets
ESPNF1 Staff
January 6, 2010
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Flavio Briatore wants to take action against the Piquets © Sutton Images
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Flavio Briatore plans to take legal action against the Piquet family after his indefinite ban from motorsport was overturned by a French court.
Ex-Renault boss Briatore was punished by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) for conspiring with driver Nelson Piquet Jnr and director of engineering Pat Symonds to cause an accident at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Piquet Jnr leaked the scandal to the FIA after he was sacked from Renault. A vicious feud between the two began and Briatore said he planned to sue Piquet Jnr and his father Nelson, who initially made the allegations.
On Tuesday a Paris court decided the WMSC ruling had been "irregular". While Briatore has not been cleared of the accusations, the ban, subject to an FIA appeal, will be dropped. He has now confirmed that he is likely to pursue legal action against the Piquets.
"The bad that has been done to me won't be forgotten in one day," Briatore told the Gazzetta dello Sport. He went on to reiterate his belief that the ban was a result of his bitter relationship with ex-FIA president Max Mosley.
"It was a case of vengeance from Mosley, who has always managed the FIA and the World Council as if it was private property," he said. "He had reassured me, telling me they understood I didn't have anything to do with the issue. Then came that verdict. It was an ignoble thing after 18 years of F1. First Mosley tried to make me lose titles, first with [Michael] Schumacher then with [Fernando] Alonso, and then to destroy me with this story."
On Tuesday he announced that he would continue to run his driver management programme, which he would have lost under the ban. He said he was considering his legal options over that part of his business too.
"Except for [Heikki] Kovalainen and [Lucas] di Grassi, my relationship with the other drivers has never changed," he said. "In fact, now we'll analyse the situation with the lawyers to see whether we should take legal action against anyone who has broken a contract with us."
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