Mosley: Briatore affair far from over
Former FIA president Max Mosley says the 'crashgate' affair is far from over, despite a French court overturning the lifetime ban imposed by the governing body on Flavio Briatore
The court said it had found irregularities in the ban imposed on the former Renault boss Briatore and former director of engineering Pat Symonds after they were found guilty of being part of a plot to fix the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
The FIA gave Briatore a lifetime ban from motorsport, while Symonds received a five-year one. Both were overturned on Tuesday.
Despite that, Mosley says the issue is far from over and says the FIA could simply change its rules so that it can ban even non-licence holders.
"As far as the FIA is concerned I would really want to hear what the superior court said before I would be prepared to acknowledge that the advice we got from outside lawyers was incorrect," Mosley told the Telegraph.
"But the suggestion that we can't penalise anyone who doesn't have a licence is very serious because, for example, we wouldn't be able to ban those people who blacked up their faces and upset Lewis Hamilton [in Barcelona in 2008] from coming to a race.
"But in any case the FIA can easily change its rules so that it takes account of what the court said. They said we weren't allowed to ban non-licence holders. Well obviously you can bring in a rule which does allow you to, if you wish.
"One thing's for sure, it's very far from over."
Mosley also cast doubt on Briatore's suggestions that he was considering suing the Piquets.
"It's just talk. A little bit of boasting to the Italian press," he said. "The fact is if he went after the Piquets there would be a countersuit that would make his eyes water.
"In fact, I think he will be very fortunate not to get sued by the Piquets, because don't forget he accused them of blackmail and extortion, which is very defamatory. It may well be, I don't know, that the Piquets are preparing to sue him."
The former FIA head also believes the governing body should appeal the court's decision.
"Remember, the court did not find that [Briatore] was not guilty," Mosley said. "They just didn't like the procedure we used. But it's a very preliminary judgement. I think the FIA should appeal the judgement because I think it is seriously flawed in a number of areas.
"Aspects of it are just extraordinary. Symonds actually admitted in writing that he was guilty and yet they found in his favour. But that's only because they are not looking at the substance, they are just looking at the procedure."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Mooted F1 points system like "putting a plaster on a big cut" - Ocon
Haas disputes Magnussen's Chinese GP F1 penalty was "justifiable"
The story of the 2011 Italian Grand Prix
Why do so many F1 stars live in Monaco?
Bagnaia used Jerez MotoGP practice “as a test” for “big” change
Newgarden “didn’t rehearse” emotional IndyCar press conference
Teams expect Sainz's F1 China qualifying incident to be cleared up
How studying Tost, Whiting and Binotto shaped F1's latest team boss
The F1 hero to zero dividing line that has never been so thin
How Stroll and Magnussen revealed the scale of F1’s racing and rules problems
Did F1's new sprint format work?
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments