First of all, in no way are Coughlan and Briatore comparable. Coughlan took part in the sort of industrial espionage that is wrong, but slightly inevitable, well reported and well regulated. He was caught, rightly punished, served his time, an even Ferrari arn’t complaining that he’s back, especially if he gets a prestige marque like Williams back to their proper place.
Briatore fixed a race, dangerous not only because it devalues the results of every race, we can no longer be sure what we are seing is real, but fixed it in a highl;y dangerous way. Pique himself probably wasn’t in great danger, nor were the crowd or even the marshall’s, F1 is very safe today as we know, however, thats entirley by the by, a crash is a chaotic situation, things go wrong. People could have been killed, Briatore was intergral to the whole plot, this was the man in charge. For that reason forgivness, reconciliation and a return to the padock are unacceptable, he mustn’t be allowed near F1 ever again, that the BBC had him on is a disgrace.
