Flavio Briatore has said he is considering taking legal action against Nelson Piquet Jr and the former Renault driver's father.
Former Renault F1 boss "likely" to pursue former driver in court
Having had his lifetime ban from Formula One overturned, Flavio Briatore has said he is now is considering taking legal action against both Nelson Piquet Jr and the former Renault driver's father.
Briatore, formerly Renault's team principal, was speaking the day after France's Tribunal de Grande Instance court ordered the ban imposed by the FIA to be overturned.
The ban stems from the scandal caused at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, when then Renault driver Piquet crashed his car deliberately in the race in order to benefit team-mate, and eventual race winner, Fernando Alonso.
The Italian had threatened legal action against Piquet and his three-times World Champion father Nelson Sr after the Brazilian turned whistleblower against his former boss.
Piquet went public with the allegations last summer shortly after Renault fired him following a strong of poor results.
Action
However, Briatore's action fell by the wayside after the scandal caused him to vacate his position as team boss, together with director of engineering Pat Symonds - whose own five-year ban was also overturned on Tuesday.
Asked if he would now take action against the Piquets, Briatore replied: "That's very likely. The bad that has been done to me won't be forgotten in one day."
Briatore's problem, however, is the Tribunal merely stated the FIA sanction was "irregular" as it did not comply with their statutes.
At no stage has the TGI reversed the FIA's finding that both Briatore and Symonds conspired to cause an intentional crash.
Even so, Briatore has said he may also take action against those drivers who opted to break away from his management company, notably Heikki Kovalainen and Lucas di Grassi.
"Except for Kovalainen and di Grassi, my relationship with the other drivers has never changed," added Briatore, who also steers the careers of Alonso and Mark Webber.
"In fact, now we'll analyse the situation with the lawyers to see whether we should take legal action against anyone who has broken the contracts with us."
Ire
The main source of Briatore's ire, however, remains former FIA president Max Mosley, who he had said acted as "complainant, investigator, prosecutor and judge" in the case against him.
"It was a case of vengeance from Mosley, who has always managed the FIA and the World Council as if it was private property," remarked Briatore.
"He had reassured me, telling me they understood I didn't have anything to do with that story. Then came that verdict. It was an ignoble thing after 18 years of F1."
Motor sport's world governing body are currently looking into their options and considering whether to launch an appeal, a course of action Briatore has advised them against doing.
"I wouldn't do it after such a verdict," he told
Gazzetta dello Sport.
