The ex-boss of Renault has been banned from Formula One for life. This follows an addmittion from Renault that they fixed a race in 2008.
The controversy centred around an early crash involving Renault driver Nelson Piquet, Jr.'s car during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix of 28 September 2008.
At the time, Piquet Jr. described the crash as a simple mistake, however, shortly after his acrimonious departure from Renault and criticism of Briatore nearly a year later in August 2009, allegations surfaced that Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed to help Renault team mate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win the race.
After a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) investigation, on 4 September 2009 Renault were charged with conspiracy and race fixing, and faced the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on 21 September 2009 where the team received a two year suspended ban. In return for immunity from punishment, Piquet Jr. had reportedly stated to the FIA that he had been asked to crash by Briatore and Renault chief engineer Pat Symonds.
Writing on his own site after being sacked, Piquet said "A manager is supposed to encourage you, support you, and provide you with opportunities. In my case it was the opposite. Flavio Briatore was my executioner."
In an interview with Autosport magazine, Piquet Jr. said that Briatore "is ignorant about Formula 1” and revealed that “If you listen to the pit-wall radio, it's like a joke. He hasn't got a clue what is happening in the race… he makes comments that don't make any sense.”
The son of the three times F1 champion Nelson Piquet affirmed "everyone knows that his (Briatore) ego is bigger than anything else. He likes to show off. You can be a very good businessman and whatever, but the F1 team itself can do very well without him. The only good thing the team takes out of him is his good relationship with Bernie and the FIA. Other than that, he doesn't know what is going on. It's like listening to something my sister would say about the car.
Briatore started his career in Formula 1 with Benetton in 1988. During the 1994 season, Briatore's Benneton team came under allegations of cheating, resulting in fines and a two-race ban for Schumacher.
Late in 1994, Briatore purchased the ailing Ligier team to acquire its stock of Renault engines. FIA regulations, however, did not permit him to own the team, so he sold it to Walkinshaw. He took on complete management of Benetton, but when Schumacher and a number of key technical staffers departed for Ferrari in 1996, the team slipped to the middle of the grid.
In 2000, Renault announced its plans to return to Formula One with the purchase of the Benetton Formula team. Briatore returned as managing director and team principal, replacing Rocco Benetton. The team raced as Benetton-Renault in 2001 before becoming Renault F1 in 2002.
Briatore has a reputation as a talent-scout, and probably his greatest 'find' has been Fernando Alonso. Briatore met with the teenage Spaniard in 1999. As his manager, Briatore secured him a race drive with Minardi in 2001, and promoted him to test-driver for Renault in 2002.
For 2003, Briatore fired race-driver Jenson Button and replaced him with Alonso. When he replaced Button the outcry was huge, but Briatore stated, 'Time will tell if I am wrong’.
