Paris: Former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore had his life ban from Formula One overturned on Tuesday when a French court ruled that the punishment was illegally imposed by the sport's governing body.
The flamboyant Italian was banned in September by the International Automobile Federation (FIA) for a plot to rig the outcome of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by staging a deliberate crash.
"The court ruled the sanction was illegal," said a judge at the Tribunal de Grande Instance.
Briatore, a multi-millionaire businessman who had also sought damages of 1 million euros ($1.45 million) as well as demanding the sentence be lifted, was awarded 15,000 euros in compensation.
"It is almost exactly what we had asked for, this is obviously an exceptional outcome for Mr Briatore," his lawyer Philippe Ouakrat told reporters.
He did not know whether Briatore, who did not attend the hearing, would try to come back to the sport where he won championships with both Benetton and Renault in a career spanning more than two decades.
"Mr Briatore wanted to be free to do what he wants and he did not want to be imposed an outrageous sanction taken in his absence and without being able to defend himself," said Ouakrat.
FIA APPEAL
The FIA's lawyer Jean-Francois Prat told Reuters the FIA would "very likely" appeal the decision. He declined to make any further comment. Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet triggered one of Formula One's biggest scandals when he was dropped by Renault in July and then told the FIA that he had been ordered to crash deliberately at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
He said he had done so to bring out the safety car and help his Spanish team mate Fernando Alonso, the double world champion who has now joined Ferrari, win the race. Alonso has been cleared of any knowledge of the plan.
Former champions Renault were handed a suspended permanent ban while engineering head Pat Symonds, who left the team at the same time as Briatore, was banned for five years.
The court overturned Symonds' sentence on Tuesday and awarded the Briton 5,000 euros in compensation.
Briatore had launched his legal case in October, claiming he had not been given the right to a free and fair defence to the charges.
The Italian had highlighted his strained relationship with former FIA president Max Mosley and described the FIA procedure as a "sham hearing". The court upheld Briatore's complaint in a written statement: "The decision was taken while the (motor sport) council was chaired by (Mosley), who had notoriously come into conflict with Mr Briatore," it said.
"Mr Mosley played a key role in launching (both) the inquiry and the legal process, violating the principle of a separation of the bodies that are responsible for the investigation and for the judgment."
The panel of three judges noted Briatore had been summoned via an email only three days before the FIA hearing, had not been told why he had been charged and that the governing body had not sent him any document regarding the scandal.
Tuesday's ruling had ramifications beyond the world of Formula One, with Briatore also the co-owner of English Championship (second division) soccer club Queens Park Rangers.
Had the ban been upheld, Briatore could have been forced out of the London club under league rules aimed at ensuring ownership is in the hands of fit and proper persons.
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