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Official: Briatore Fights FIA Ban in Paris Court

It is now official that former Renault manager Flavio Briatore will fight the lifetime ban imposed by the FIA following the crash-gate. The International Automobile Federation (FIA) suspended the 59-year old Italian for life from all FIA-sanctioned competitions due to his involvement in the worst race-fixing scandal in the history of the sport.

However, as announced by a spokesman for the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris on Monday, the Italian has already filed the papers to fight the FIA ban. Consequently, Briatore will also seek damages of between 500,000 and one million euros for his disgraced image caused by the entire scandal.

Earlier last weekend, Briatore issued a statement to the media in which he announced he'll challenge the ban imposed by the FIA, as he named the ruling body a tool in the hand of Max Mosley. According to the Italian, it was only the 69-year old Brit who wanted to get rid of Briatore and used the crash-gate as an excuse to do so.

In this case, the FIA has been used as a tool to exact vengeance on behalf of one man. This decision is a legal absurdity and I have every confidence that the French courts will resolve the matter justly and impartially,” said the statement from the former Renault boss.

Briatore was the only person involved in the scandal that has been handed a lifetime ban. Renault got a 2-year suspended ban for their role in the race-fixing saga, while head of engineering Pat Symonds had to settle for a 5-year ban from the sport. Nelson Piquet Jr, however, was the one guy who was left untouched, despite his quite active role in the crash-gate.

Asked about his friend's penalty, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone concluded: “Giving somebody life – they don't even do that for murder.
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