Briatore - FIA hearing a 'sham'

Briatore: Appeal

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Former Renault team principal Flavio Briatore has accused the FIA of secret negotiations before the "sham hearing" at which he was banned for life from Formula One.

The Italian received the punishment - which covers all events sanctioned by world motorsport's governing body - in September for his role in a plot to fix last year's Singapore Grand Prix by having Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jr. crash deliberately so that team-mate Fernando Alonso could win the race.

The Guardian reported on Thursday that Briatore is launching an appeal in which he is seeking to both overturn the ban and also claim at least €1 million in damages.

In a subsequent statement, the FIA condemned the "selective leaking" of extracts from Briatore's case and also disputed his assertion that the role played by its former president Max Mosley in the affair breached European laws concerning fair trials.

Briatore has now responded with a statement in which he says his action was a public one, there was nothing confidential in the documents and he had nothing to hide.

He also rejected the FIA's position that the life ban was agreed by an "overwhelming" majority of World Motor Sport Council members attending the hearing.

"The FIA neglects to mention that, according to declarations by one of its own vice-presidents to the media, the world council's decision was rather the outcome of secret negotiations on the eve of the sham hearing," Briatore's statement said.

FIA vice-president Mohamed Ben Sulayem was quoted in Abu Dhabi's National newspaper after the hearing as saying: "We are not here to hang teams, we did our negotiations before and everybody is happy with the result."

Besides banning Briatore, the WMSC handed a five-year ban to Renault's former executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, for his part in the plot.

The team received an indefinite ban suspended for two years, while Piquet received immunity in return for his evidence.

Briatore's appeal is scheduled for 24 November and will be heard by France's high court, the Tribunal de Grande Instance.