spotted this on another forum
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jan/05/flavio-briatore-life-ban-overturnedThe former Renault principal Flavio Briatore had his life ban from Formula One overturned today when a French court ruled that the punishment was illegally imposed by the sport's governing body.
The Italian was banned in September by the FIA for a plot to rig the outcome of the 2008 Singapore grand prix by staging a deliberate crash. "The court ruled the sanction was illegal," said a judge at the Tribunal de Grande Instance.
Briatore had also sought damages of €1m (£899,956) as well as demanding the sentence be lifted but was awarded €15,000 in compensation. "It is almost exactly what we had asked for, this is obviously an exceptional outcome for Mr Briatore," his lawyer, Philippe Ouakrat, said.
He did not know whether Briatore, who did not attend the hearing, would try to return to the sport where he won championships with Benetton and Renault in a career spanning more than two decades.
"Mr Briatore wanted to be free to do what he wants and he did not want an outrageous sanction taken in his absence [to be imposed] and without being able to defend himself," said Ouakrat.
The FIA's lawyer, Jean-François Prat, said the FIA would "very likely" appeal the decision. He declined to make any further comment.
The Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jr triggered Formula One's biggest scandal when he was dropped by Renault in July and then told the FIA that he had been ordered to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore grand prix.
He said he had done so to bring out the safety car and help his Spanish team-mate, Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who has now joined Ferrari, win the race. Alonso has been cleared of any knowledge of the plan.
Renault were handed a suspended ban while the engineering head, Pat Symonds, who left the team at the same time as Briatore, was banned for five years. The court overturned Symonds' sentence, too, and awarded him €5,000.
Briatore had launched his legal case in October, claiming he had not been given the right to a free and fair defence to the charges. The Italian had highlighted his strained relationship with the former FIA president Max Mosley and described the FIA procedure as a "sham hearing".
The court upheld Briatore's complaint in a written statement: "The decision was taken while the [motor sport] council was chaired by [Mosley], who had notoriously come into conflict with Mr Briatore," it said. "Mr Mosley played a key role in launching [both] the inquiry and the legal process, violating the principle of a separation of the bodies that are responsible for the investigation and for the judgment."
The panel of three judges noted Briatore had been summoned via an email only three days before the FIA hearing, had not been told why he had been charged and that the governing body had not sent him any document regarding the scandal.
Today's ruling had ramifications beyond Formula One, with Briatore also the co-owner of Queens Park Rangers. Had the ban been upheld, Briatore could have been forced out of the Championship club under league rules aimed at ensuring ownership is in the hands of fit and proper persons. Reuters
