Disgraced former Renault team head Flavio Briatore is seeking 1 million euros (US$1.5 million) in compensation from Formula One's governing body over the crash-gate scandal, a report said on Thursday.
Briatore is appealing his life ban from the sport in a Paris court later this month, and will claim the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council did not follow proper rules and procedures in making its decision.
He wants the ban overturned and a minimum of 1 million euros for damages to his reputation, the Guardian newspaper said, citing documents in the case.
The move follows former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr’s claims that he had been ordered to deliberately crash at last year’s Singapore race to allow teammate Fernando Alonso to win.
Briatore, who quit in the aftermath of the scandal, was handed a lifetime ban and chief engineer Pat Symonds was suspended for five years when the World Motor Sport Council met in Paris in September.
According to the newspaper, Symonds will join the appeal to have his suspension overturned, claiming the World Motor Sport Council’s hearings into the scandal were conducted in an improper fashion.
Briatore will allege that FIA chief Max Mosley was “clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge,” according to the Guardian.
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