F1 links: Briatore demands £900K from FIA
Flavio Briatore to demand €1m payout from FIA (The Guardian)
"Documents seen by the Guardian reveal that Briatore is asking for a total annulment of the FIA's instruction to its members – race organisers, teams or drivers – not to have any dealings with him. He is also demanding a minimum of €1m (£900,000) in compensation for the damage to his reputation. The case will be heard by France's high court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance, on 24 November. 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."
Tribunal De Grande Instance (FIA)
"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."
The FIA discusses overtaking (Grandprix)
"The FIA was busy yesterday with an international seminar to examine the issue of overtaking in motor sport. The event was attended by FIA technical experts, circuit designers, technical directors, senior engineers and drivers from F1, NASCAR and IRL as well as other major championships."
Bernie Ecclestone, 79, makes Tatler list of most eligible singletons (Daily Telegraph)
"Mr Ecclestone, who is single again after splitting from his 6ft 2in wife, Slavica, is the oldest person on the Little Black Book list by several decades. However, as the magazine put it: 'A 79-year-old billionaire – what's not to like?'"
Lotus boss craves instant success (BBC)
"The reformed franchise has been funded by Malaysian companies Tune Group and Naza Group and will have a budget of £55 million for next season."
These are links I’ve bookmarked using Delicious. You can see my Delicious profile here.
Unrelated story: Whitmarsh has invited Kimi’s manager Robertson to the factory. So I guess it is still possible Kimi will go to McLaren.
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=47410
Maybe they think Robertson can do something with Heikki. Does he own any large boots?
Button also touring the factory! Can I have a tour too please Martin!?
Instant success with £55million? Guffaw.
GO FLAVA !!!
sue them for even more !
I am not a fan of Bernie, but you have to admit he is remarcable : 79 years young, plenty of hair, trim, top shape !!!
How do you do it Bernie ? diet, special foods, what exersize ? probably a positive and stress-free outlook on life ?
Please let us know
Bernie has a super comb over. There is no hair growing on top.
It is very possible that he does blood doping
Or is a vampire…
Honestly, what does Flav expect if he gets the ban overturned? He’s not goin to be welcome in the paddock: he’s a marked man. There are some stains that don’t come out, and since his case is centred around the FIA’s falure to follow due procedure and does nothing to address the issue of his guilt or innocence, teams would be more inclined to associate themselves with Mike Coughlan than with Braitore.
No-one in their right mind will hire him.
My mind agrees with that Pm but I can’t help but worry he will be back one day
The FIA have prevented Flavio from having any association with any form of FIA-sanctioned motorsport. To paraphrase someone on another forum, that means that if Briatore had an interest in a company that supplied toilet paper to Silverstone, the FIA would have to refuse to sanction the event (I know imagining a Silverstone toilet with toilet paper is a little far-fetched but stay with me here).
Briatore’s case against the FIA is based on the fact that such a judgement is completely beyond their jurisdiction. The FIA are only permitted to sanction FIA licence holders, which as a driver manager (or indeed a team principal) Briatore is not. The FIA could ban him from areas where they have jurisdiction (e.g. paddock and pit lane in FIA-sanctioned events) but that’s all.
I don’t think Flav harbours any illusions of being able to work in F1 again. What he wants is to overturn a judgement that the FIA should never have been allowed to make in the first place.
I agree with all of that!
But surely Flav and Symmonds cannot say that they were improperly judged on the day since neither of them were there to defend themselves?
Why has it taken so long for Flav to start making a noise about this? I expected him to be on Max’s doorstep from the day the allegations were made, not for him to meekly run away in a cloud of expensive cologne….
And he should know by now that getting the FIA to overturn a judgement is harder than faking a car crash.
Briatore fixed a race outcome, endangering dozens of lives and bringing the sport into disrepute in the process. His lifelong ban was more than earned, whatever the political context. He should just curl up in a corner and lick his wounds, because basing his case on the FIA’s inability to follow due procedure is practically an admission of guilt. No-one is ever going to want to be associated with him; given the hoice, I think most teams would rather work with Mike Coughlan. Knowing Flav, he probably expects to have the ban overturned and resume working as a team principal as if nothing had happened.
Good riddance, Flav.
“However, as the magazine put it: ‘A 79-year-old billionaire – what’s not to like?’”
No 18 year old Penthouse model should marry him thinking that in a few years she will collect a lot of money. Aside from outliving everyone, Bernie is the king of the small print. Just ask any track owner.
I doubt your average 18 year old Penthouse model can read the print large or small, a fact that probably isn’t lost on Bernie. Good times!
Nice one
Hmm.
I think I’ll put in a similar demand to the FIA for time wasted watching boring races. But I’ll be generous – £850,000.
@HounslowBusGarage.
Ha Ha! I was thinking along those lines too, everybody who watched the Japanese Gp this year is atleast entitled to some compensation. The teams should be compensated for the disastrous intruduction of KERS. Seriously, if Briatore is serious about this and still expects any sort of future in motorsport then he is mistaken.
Everyone has suggested that Mosley kicked Briatore out due to ill feeling between the two following the FOTA-FIA war in the summer. With Mosley gone, and Jean Todt now the new FIA president, one would think Flavio would be trying to mend bridges rather than burn them.
Afterall, it is not as if Briatore was ‘innocent’ of the charges of cheating during Singapore 2008. He is responsible for the damage to his reputation, nobody else. Nor is it mentioned the damage to Renault’s reputation, that the Italian’s actions caused.