Mosley confident Briatore ban will remain
07/01/2010  Former FIA president Max Mosley is confident that despite the ruling in a French court earlier this week, the lifetime motorsport ban on Flavio Briatore will remain in place.
While the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris ruled that the ban was illegally imposed, the man at the core of Briatore's case, Max Mosley, who was accused of being "blinded" by desire for "personal revenge", is confident that the ban will remain in place. "Remember, the court did not find that Briatore was not guilty," he told the Telegraph. "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," he continued. "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." Referring to the accusation that Briatore was the victim of a personal vendetta, Mosley said: "The inquiry was carried out by the stewards, completely independently, with the supervision of outside lawyers. My involvement was purely in the world council. So the suggestion that I had it in for him is complete nonsense. "After the whole row with the teams last summer he and I had a very friendly lunch in Monaco at Rampoldi's. There was never an animus there. This was all invented to distract attention from the fact he committed the worst example of cheating in the history of sport." The Englishman also refuted claims that the ruling on Tuesday casts doubt on the FIA's judicial system. "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," he said. "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." As for the suggestion that Briatore might now launch a legal action against the Piquets, Mosley said: "It's just talk. A little bit of boasting to the Italian press. The fact is if he went after the Piquets there would be a countersuit that would make his eyes water. "In fact," he continued, "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.
"One thing's for sure," he added, "it's very far from over." |
