Mosley: Briatore threats 'just talk'
Max Mosley
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Friday, 08, Jan 2010 11:48
By Adam Leveridge.
Former president of the FIA Max Mosley said Flavio Briatore's threat of legal action against the Piquet family after having his lifetime ban from all FIA-sanctioned motorsport series overturned by the French courts "is just talk".
On Tuesday, Briatore's lifetime ban, which was handed to him for his involvement in the highly controversial race-fixing scandal, where Nelson Piquet was instructed to deliberately crash out of the 2008 Singapore grand prix in order to assist his Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso, was overturned by the French high courts in Paris.
The courts questioned the procedures of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) and raised concerns over Mosley's motives behind giving Briatore a lifetime ban.
But, in an interview with the Telegraph Sport on Thursday, Mosley said the court's ruling did not mean the former Renault team principal didn't have any involvement in the scandal and warned the Italian not to be too confident and boastful.
"The fact is if he went after the Piquets there would be a countersuit that would make his eyes water," said Mosley.
"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."
"Remember, the court did not find that Briatore was not guilty.
"They just didn't like the procedure we used. But it's a very preliminary judgement."
Mosley thinks the FIA should appeal the judgement as he believes "it is seriously flawed in a number of areas," after the court found in favour of Briatore and Symonds despite an admission of guilt by the former director of engineering, who was given a five-year ban for his part in the plot.
"Aspects of it are just extraordinary. Symonds actually admitted in writing that he was guilty and yet they found in his favour," sid Mosley.
"But that's only because they are not looking at the substance, they are just looking at the procedure."
Mosley again dismissed suggestions that he had a personal vendetta against Briatore, saying the claims were made to divert attention from the original scandal.
"The inquiry was carried out by the stewards, completely independently, with the supervision of outside lawyers," said Mosley.
"My involvement was purely in the world council. So the suggestion that I had it in for him is complete nonsense."
Mosely stood down as president of the FIA in July last year, replaced by former Ferrari executive director Jean Todt.