Briatore asks for Brawn GP not to receive any of the sport's TV or travel revenue for at least three years as a consequence of keeping quiet about their controversial, yet legal, rear diffuser design. As the system was cleared by the FIA last week, all teams are now obliged to revise their 2009 challengers in order to catch up with the BGP 001 in terms of competitiveness. Which means a whole lot of unplanned money to be spent for their 2009 campaign.
Briatore also asks the FOTA to release Ross Brawn from his position as head of the technical committee, as he thinks the British official deliberately kept the different diffuser design secret ahead to the other teams.
“I don't want to be Robin Hood but I do not have money in my budget for a diffuser and I cannot finish the season a second behind Brawn. I believe the distribution of the money must be reviewed,” said Briatore in an interview for the Spanish media, as reported by GMM news agency. It appears the sum Brawn is looking to be denied of is around 30 million euros.
The Briatore-Brawn conflict resembles more to a personal vendetta, as Brawn is the only team principal the Italian set his target on (although there were 2 other teams using different diffusers, Williams and Toyota). Briatore publicly criticized Brawn a number of times during the past few weeks, and the Brawn GP owner hit back every time.
Nonetheless, when asked about Briatore's last “attack”, Brawn replied: “I'm not going to respond. It's a shame that he brings those things into the public arena as they're FOTA business, but that's his style. I'd rather not talk about it.”
In order for Brawn GP to receive the aforementioned funds, 70 percent of the teams would have to agree to this move. The Brackley-based team are aiming to benefit from a transfer of all revenue entitlements from the defunct Honda Racing.
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