Parc Ferme: The Flav is back

I say F1, since the whole Flavio Briatore affair, is an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, and shrouded in tyre smoke.

Much like Tribúla himself. The announcement of Briatore's return on F1’s official site was strange, to say the least. No mention of “crashgate” or the “lifetime ban”. It just says he took “some time out”. However, I suspect that Alpine was the source here. A deeper dive into the background highlights why they may want to gloss over this salient point.

The cause of the “lifetime” ban was in the news again last year. It centred around Felipe Massa's claim that he was cheated out of the 2008 F1 World Championship.

The pivotal action being cited was Flavio Briatore (Renault F1 Team Principal) and apparent co-conspirator Pat Symonds, issuing the order for Nelson Piquet Jr. to stick it in the wall at the Singapore Grands Prix of the same year.

And by doing so, facilitate a win for Fernando Alonso (or, in Massa’s case, deny him of it.). It is an accepted fact that the said directive was given and that Piquet Jr. performed the command to great effect, delivering Alonso the victory.

A subsequent investigation in 2009, led to the FIA charging the Renault F1 Team of race fixing. As Captain and first mate of the Renault ship, this resulted in both Briatore and Symonds receiving lifetime bans from any FIA-sanctioned race event. Briatore, also received the double whammy of the FIA announcing that super licenses would no longer be issued to any drivers that he managed. It should be noted that the charges against Renault were dropped as both Symonds and Briatore had already jumped and/or been pushed out of the team.

However, what is not remembered is that in 2010, Briatore sued the FIA over the decision and won! It was found that the animosity between the then-FIA President, Max Mosely, and Briatore was a leading cause of the investigation being initiated. The FIA announced it would appeal the decision, but in the end, the two parties reached an out-of-court settlement.

We can only speculate what was agreed to in that out-of-court settlement. However, it wasn’t the only “cheating” F1 scandal that Flavio had been at the helm with. In 2007, Renault F1 was found guilty of breaching the same regulations as McLaren in “Ferrari-gate”.

Whereas McLaren’s Captain, Ron Dennis, was sent to Coventry, in this instance, Renault et al went free. Despite this, we can speculate that Briatore was becoming too toxic, even by F1 standards. And that the powers that were then in place felt it was necessary to carry out an old-fashioned Greek ostracism. Paid for, of course.

With Symonds and Briatore's recent return to F1, we can also understand that the terms of the out-of-court agreement have been met. However, Briatore never really left F1. Like a subject of a restraining order, he continued to circle F1's periphery, whilst maintaining the required distance.

If you look at Briatore’s F1 track record and life, it’s full of “cheating” charges that have then been legally expunged. He came across as a Sicilian “Teflon” Don who could do what he wanted whenever he wanted, something that allowed him to function well in the world of F1.

However, in an interview with Autosport, Nelson Piquet Jr. suggested he was “ignorant about F1.” In some ways, he may be right. Flavio forgot or didn’t understand that the real crime in F1 is not cheating but the getting caught and not ‘fessing up'!

Piquet Jr. also suggested, his ego got in the way. This, I think, is also a fair comment. Everyone answers to someone; maybe in 2009, he also forgot that there were two hands on one stomach above him in F1 who called the shots!

F1 has always been a world of smoke and mirrors. However, it is strange that a man who has repeatedly been accused of fraud inside and out of F1 has been allowed back into its inner circle, especially when it seems the sport is canvassing gamblers to speculate on its results.

It is also ironic that a young driver being ordered to crash a car with almost malice aforethought appears to have been glossed over, especially when safety so often takes pride of place in F1’s priorities.