Flavio Briatore sensationally quits Formula One over race-fixing scandal

Flavio Briatore sensationally quits Formula One over race-fixing scandal

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 6:50 PM on 16th September 2009

He's the man that appeared to have it all - the substantial fortune, luxury lifestyle and a stunning wife 30 years his junior.

But it appears billionaire playboy Flavio Briatore's luck has finally run out after he was forced out of Formula One in disgrace.
The controversial Renault team boss, 59, has been accused of rigging the outcome of last season's Singapore Grand Prix.



Disgraced: Flavio Briatore, pictured with his wife Elisabetta Gregoraci earlier this month

His success led him to head up the Benetton Formula One team, where he spotted Michael Schumacher in 1991 and bought him from Eddie Jordan’s fledgling team.
Schumacher went on to win two world championships with Briatore in 1994 and 1995.
He then went on to head up the Renault team, unceremoniously dumping Jenson Button for Fernando Alonso. He went on to win world championships in 2005 and 2006.




Briatore holds up a trophy after Fernando Alonso won the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in 2005

The news of his exit came as Renault decided not to contest the recent allegations made against them, that they conspired with then driver Nelson Piquet Junior to cause a crash at last year's Singapore Grand Prix.
Despite Briatore's assertion during last weekend's Italian Grand Prix of no wrongdoing, the departure of the team's managing director and executive director of engineering would now appear to point to their guilt.
His decision to resign came after the Anglo-French team said it would not contest the allegations.
The Renault team has been charged by the sport’s governing body, the FIA, with 'conspiring with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jnr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso'.
Renault has been summoned to a hearing of FIA’s World Motorsport Council in Paris next Monday.
If found guilty, the team could face a huge fine and even be banned from the championship.
Any officials found to be involved in a conspiracy could face a life ban from the sport.
It is alleged that Piquet was ordered to crash at a pre-race meeting. The Sao Paolo-born driver slammed into the wall on lap 14 — shortly after Alonso pitted — allowing the Spaniard to take the lead as the leading drivers were forced to follow a safety car.
Alonso went on to win Formula One’s inaugural night race, his first victory for two years, at a time when Renault were considering quitting the sport.



Probe: The allegations of race-fixing centre on Nelson Piquet Jnr's crash at the Singapore Grand Prix last September

Briatore has accused Piquet and his father, three-times world champion Nelson Piquet Snr, of 'blackmail' and is taking them to court. But FIA president Max Mosley said in an interview that there seems to be evidence to support
Piquet’s claims.
He said: 'Certainly the data from the car indicated that something very unusual
had happened on the corner where he crashed. So there was enough there to make it unthinkable not to investigate.'
Mr Symonds has reportedly been offered immunity by the FIA in return for a disclosure of a full account of the race last September.

Briatore’s disgrace will also bring uncertainty to fans of Queen’s Park Rangers, which he bought with Bernie Ecclestone two years ago.

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