There are certain loves that make immense turns and then also return F1. Take Briatore and the Renault/Alpine. Sooner or later, love triumphs. We leave each other, we take each other, we release ourselves and we recover. Someone, less romantic than us, without a doubt, could easily maintain that the murderer always returns to the scene of the crime or misdeed. But don’t pay too much attention to these base allegations. So we come to one of the most absurd pieces of news in recent days, which was also very phoned in, in the sense that all that was missing was the official announcement but it had been known for some time:
“The BWT Alpine F1 Team confirms that Flavio Briatore has been appointed by Groupe Renault CEO, Luca de Meo, as its executive advisor for the Formula 1 division. Briatore will predominantly focus on the high-level areas of the team, including team scouting best talents at driver level, questioning the existing project by evaluating the current structure and consultancy on some strategic issues within the sport”. And already here, under strategic issues, you want to smile bitterly… maybe he will give some good advice in the race? Maybe.
The problem of the return of Briatore In the Circus which among other things, time and time again, he had never stopped hanging out with, is still the same. The stone guest you could say, that is, the ugly, but really ugly, mess of Singapore 2008. One of the biggest “dirts” in the history of sport. Many years have passed but the matter is far from forgotten so much so that, as you know, Mass has been engaged in an unprecedented legal battle since 2023 against F1/FIA why the Grand Prix be cancelled.
F1, Briatore the “sick” story that is not good for the Circus
Let’s go in order. Singapore 2008 is remembered for being the first contested in Marina Baythe first ever at night in the history of the sport and for having been particularly chaotic following a controversial accident involving the Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jrfrom the Renaultand which caused a series of consequences that led to the victory of his teammate Fernando Alonso. That result was decisive for the final ranking of 2008the first won by Hamiltonwho at the time ran for the McLaren and finished just one point ahead of the Brazilian Mass from the Ferrari.
Lewis in fact he came third in Singapore (getting 6 points), while Mass, who was first before the accident, finished the race in thirteenth place without any points. But what only emerged later is that Nelson Piquet Jr he crashed deliberately, on orders from his team, to favor his teammate Alonso. The placement of Felipe was directly linked to the consequences of that accident, and now therefore, following new developments in the matter, the driver has activated legal proceedings to ask for justice, claiming to have been «the victim of a conspiracy committed by people at the top of F1.
An aspect that caused him to lose tens of millions of euros for that wrong suffered and to be, in essence, the legitimate champion of the drivers’ title of 2008. That Nelson Piquet Jr had crashed on purpose, it was known the following year: at first he said it had happened inadvertently, but then first his father – three-time champion in the eighties – and later himself revealed that there had been a specific order from Flavio Briatore, team manager from the Renaultand the engineer Pat Symonds. A subsequent investigation by FIA he ascertained that this was exactly what happened, and decided on penalties and suspensions for Renault, Briatore And Symonds.
The September sentence 2009 it was very hard: Briatore banned for life, Symonds banned for five years (the two had already been removed from the team anyway) while the Renault it was excluded from the constructors’ classification for two years but with a conditional sentence. No penalty however for Fernando Alonso, considered unaware of the conspiracy. In the 2010 The Tribunal de Grande Instance Of Paris canceled out the radiation of Briatore and the disqualification of Symonds considering the procedure instituted by the company to be irregular FIA. This is an important step.
It was not stated that the charges were false, but that the legal proceedings were not fair because the defendants had not been guaranteed a “fair trial”. At that point the then president of the FIA Jean Todt accepted a compromise solution that put an end to this case. Ban until 2013 For Flaviuswhile the Renault publicly apologized to Piquet Jr after having branded his revelations over the summer as slanderous 2009. Despite the admission of responsibility, too Pat Symonds he was soon rehabilitated and returned to Formula 1 as a consultant to Virgin Racing in 2011.
He later became technical director of Williams In the 2013 and technical manager for Formula 1 from the 2017. The controversial tail, as you will remember, concerns the late declarations of Ecclestone (the grand old man of F1 stated that from the beginning he and Mosley, then president FIAthey knew about the scam) and the attempt to Mass to have “justice”. Now, here it is not a question of being guilty or innocent, because the fact that the event happened is undisputed and clear. The problem is the alternate morality of the world of F1. Already I have the photos of Wolff, Sundays And Briatore of an August a few years ago had made people turn up their noses quite a bit.
Then Liberty Media appoints him “ambassador” of the F1 (2022) with the enthusiasm of Sundays. The press release from FOA it read: Flavio Briatorein his capacity as a long-time ambassador for the F1will continue to support the Circus in relations with some promoters, existing and potential partners, also developing possible commercial and entertainment collaborations. Yay! Now comes complete rehabilitation. But rehabilitation from what? All we need is: “He is a saint, an apostle!” of Fantozzian memory, and we’re good to go. Or not?
Can the F1 afford this “we love each other” and best wishes? You can afford to have around the paddock someone who has tarnished the reputation of motorsports so seriously? The Romans used to say “est modus in rebus” that is to say that you must adopt a correct, measured way in doing things. And that there are questions of style and opportunity in all areas of life. If you think about it, in the end, what did the F1 for inclusiveness, for basic civil rights, for the fight against racism?
They took away the “umbrellas” come on Grand Prizesunless you are in the USA (over there they call them cheerleaders which are not exactly the same thing but almost). Stop. Because, ultimately, this F1 it’s a mountain of hypocrisy to compare to Everest it’s a hill.
Author: Mariano Froldi – @MarianoFroldi
Images: FIA – F1 – Alpine
