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Ecclestone Voted Against Briatore’s Ban

Following the crash-gate scandal which had the Renault F1 outfit, Pat Symonds and Flavio Briatore in the spotlight for the last few weeks, it has now surfaced in the media that 'F1 supremo' Bernie Ecclestone actually voted against Flavio Briatore’s lifetime ban from any FIA organized motor-sport discipline.

The news came from none other than future ex-FIA president Max Mosley. Ecclestone had formerly let the media in on his vote, shortly after he arrived in Singapore for last weekend’s Formula 1 Grand Prix, by revealing that upon a deeper reflection on the matter he felt the FIA sanction against his friend and business partner was a bit too harsh.

"I was on the commission so I am probably just as guilty as anyone else. On reflection it wasn't necessary," were his words. Bernie Ecclestone was also slammed by F1 owner CVC’s director Sir Martin Sorrell, who interpreted that Bernie condoned cheating in Formula One.

But knowing that Bernie Ecclestone managed to stay at Formula One’s helm for so long, one cannot avoid questioning whether this is just Bernie's way of letting Briatore know it won't affect their business deals or the Briton trying to disassociate himself with FIA's decision. After all, many motorsport analysts considered Briatore’s harsh penalty the result of a ‘debt settling’ between Formula One influential groups.

As mentioned earlier, Max Mosley disclosed the way Ecclestone voted in the crash-gate case in an interview with London's Evening Standard newspaper. As reported by GMM, Max Mosley said for the aforementioned newspaper: “The council did not vote unanimously. A substantial majority were in favour of punishing Briatore but Bernie was in a minority.”
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