Briatore reveals kidney cancer scare

Briatore, 56, was operated in Rome, Italy, last month and the tumour was extracted.

"I felt immortal. We feel immortal, while we should instead thank God every morning just for being able to shave. You think that perhaps everything you've built is only useful up to a point. Maybe it's useless," Briatore told weekly magazine A.

"I had a malign tumour in my left kidney; if I hadn't had a check up, in six months' time it would have gotten ugly for me.

"I accepted the verdict, what else could I do. I'm a believer and a fatalist: in life each of us has some kind of a booklet; you can modify some chapters, but not the entire thing.

"I serenely went in the operating room, and when I woke up the doctor confirmed: 'We got it in time, in six months' time it would have become very complicated.' And so I thought: 'How lucky.'"

Briatore spent some time recovering in Merano, Italy, all by himself.

"For the first time in years I found myself having dinner alone," he added. "Until then, when I went to a restaurant with the usual entourage of friends and mobile phones, if I saw someone by himself, I would think: 'What a loser.' I won't be thinking that from now on."

He says that since the operation he has "been by myself often, and I decided I'll do that more and more: there is at least 15% of superfluous things in my previous life, so I'll do without it. I want to dedicate more time to myself and to who might need it.

"I looked around and saw who was there, who was really close to me. I'd just like to shout one thing: have yourself checked up - it saved my life."

Briatore is yet to announce his future, with his current contract with Renault expiring at the end of the season.

A decision was widely expected to be announced during the German Grand Prix weekend, but the Italian's future remains up in the air.