FIA Flavio Briatore to sue the FIA

Brogan

Brogan

Legend
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Flavio Briatore is determined to overturn his lifetime ban from motor racing, so much so that he is suing the FIA.

He will lodge papers at the Tribunal de Grand Instance in Paris this coming Monday.

Will this see the identity of the infamous Witness X finally being revealed?

"In this case, the FIA has been used as a tool to exact vengeance on behalf of one man," said Briatore in the statement. "This decision is a legal absurdity and I have every confidence that the French courts will resolve the matter justly and impartially."
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It will be interesting to see Mosley's the FIA's response to this.
Mosley won't take an action like this lightly.

Briatore takes FIA to court

P.S. Please be aware of potential libel issues when responding, we don't want anyone else sued ;)
 
As much as it pains me to say this but I think that Flavio has a pretty good case. I think the punishment needed to fit the crime and yes a ban was justified but there was always something suspect about it.

Obviously no one condones the stupid action of having Piquet jnr crash to get Alonso to win but given that it seems quite clear that Briatore and Symonds took the whole punishment purely to keep Renault in the sport the verdict needs to be looked at.

Weather or not a French court will be impartial when dealing with the case of an Italian against a French team and a French based motosport organisation which could soon be headed by a Frenchman remains to be seen.
 
I don't quite get his complaint.

When a doctor is found to have been grossly incompetent they are struck off and can never practice again. A lawyer found to be breaking the rules of the profession loses their licence, teachers who are rubbish lose their jobs. It is the same for every profession on earth, when a person breaks the rules of their organisation and/or brings it into disrepute, they lose their job and are banned from ever having a similar job again in order to provide adequate assurance to those external to the organisation that this can never happen again and because that person can never be trusted.

So if a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer and any other profession you care to imagine has the ability to ban someone from ever working in it again for gross incompetence; what is it about Flavio that makes him think that fixing a race in front of 1bn viewers, endangering the lives of fans, his driver and the stewards followed by lying about it for a whole year, does not deserve the same punishment as dished out to a £20k a year Science teacher.

I guess you get a skewed sense of justice when you are loaded and usually spend your way to whatever you want, legal or not!
 
Personally, I am glad that he is taking this action, if for no other reason than it may lead to the identity of "Witness X" and, more importantly, it may reveal whether or not it was NPJ that suggested it in the first place. If it was, then HE should have been the one to receive the lifetime ban!
 
siffert_fan said:
Personally, I am glad that he is taking this action, if for no other reason than it may lead to the identity of "Witness X"
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Same here.
I'm dying to know who that is :D
 
It's puzzling though that Alonso got to keep the win.

If they (Renault) were indeed guilty of cheating then all benefit from the race should have been stripped. Something is not quite right in my opinion.
 
Brogan said:
P.S. Please be aware of potential libel issues when responding, we don't want anyone else sued ;)
Click to expand
I can't stand this climate of libel. Free speech

As for the verdict, I can't really see it being overturned. I do actually think Flavio has a point, I don't think he should have been banned for life, it smacked of vindictiveness from Mosley.

If it doesn't get overturned, is there anything else Flavio can do? I'm sure if there is, he'll be eager to drag it out. As will Mosley or the FIA if it does get overturned.
 
Personally hoping for the verdict to be upheld - even if you ignore the regime of bullying he created around himself and his willingness to risk lives and break rules to further himself, you have to admit that the pit lane has been beautified by his absence!
 
I'm always confused as to how a sports governing body has the power to ban someone for life from a sport. Presumably Flavio has had to sign some sort of legal agreement with the FIA agreeing to abide by their rules hence why they are able to pass judgement on him. Or is it because Flavio has had a contract with Renault and as they are legaally bound to the FIA then it is by proxy?

Anyone any ideas on how this works?
 
I would have thought it was the same as someone with a criminal record being banned from being a company director, professional lawyer of accountant.

It isn't restrictive practice as such because the FIA does not control all motor sport, but they are entitled within their bylaws to define the character of participants - I think...
 
I'm not so sure.
Didn't the FA try it with a Manager or Director and it was overturned for being prejudiced to that person's ability to earn a living?

Not that being out of F1 would harm Briatore too much.
Read this to see how much he makes from TV rights in Spain...Briatore's £22m moneyspinner
 
Brogan said:
I'm not so sure.
Didn't the FA try it with a Manager or Director and it was overturned for being prejudiced to that person's ability to earn a living?

Not that being out of F1 would harm Briatore too much.
Read this to see how much he makes from TV rights in Spain...Briatore's £22m moneyspinner
Click to expand

I think that's the crux of his arguement.

I'm with the FIA on interpretation though, the FA is the proffessional football association for England and Wales. If you want to be in professional football in those countries, you have to be in their series;

The FIA run FIA races, they are global, there are many other race series around the world, therefore under the rules of the game the FIA are not operating restrictive practices.

I must admit my opinion is not helped by the fact that I would probably have to travel to dance on Flabio's grave, but legally I'm with the FIA. I also feel they have the back-up that Flav's career is not solely focused around F1, so they have not restricted all his avenues of earning potential.

One bid can of worms...
 
Brogan said:
Didn't the FA try it with a Manager or Director and it was overturned for being prejudiced to that person's ability to earn a living?
Click to expand

Yes, that was Don Revie. But the case, imo, is slightly different as in the Revie case the dispute was over breach of contract, and the FA were the employers that he had breached his contract with. From what I can discern, he didn't actually break any rules of football; just the FA were disappointed that the England manager had run off to manage the UAE, rather than saying "Et tu, Brutus".

As for Briatore, his ban came from actually breaking the rules, and I believe the special status of sport is enshrined in European Law. He's cheated, and I doubt that the courts will be able to stop the FIA applying its own rules. If it does, any sporting suspensions at all are subject to legal challenge.
 
Thanks guys.
I knew there had been a similar (although not really) case but wasn't sure of the details.

I guess we'll know soon enough how it went.
 

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