Found this letter to Nelson Sr.

[Giblet]

I do not know about it's legitimacy but it appears to be from Flavio to Nelson.



I love the words about criminal offense, but he thinks he was treated too unfairly by the FIA.

If he was in front of real courts, he might be singing a little louder.

[wesley123]

I have a huge dislike of Briatore, but im actually on his side in this.

FIA never did any real investigation and Briatore never had a real chance of talking, also the punishment for him and Symonds were simply against rules. Renault F1 is an independent company of Formula1 and thus the FIA has nothing to say about him being the director of the Renault F1 Team notr do they have the right to banish him from the formula1.

The FIA wanted to help this by signing all the employees to the formula1 management, but who will agree with this? It is simple, it is like giving an whole company to someone for free. With those contracts the FIA can simply fire Directors, CEO's engineers and drivers from their teams by banishing them.

[Giblet]

It's got to be hard for the FIA to act on something like this. As far as I know in motorsport, there is no precedent for this kind of act, and for how to levy a punishment.

[ISLAMATRON]

BAn Flav(everybody wins) or BAn RenaultF1(nobody wins)... not really a hard choice. Now if they could find a way to get rid of Luca & BErnie F1 would be mucg better off.

[autogyro]

I have a huge dislike of Briatore, but im actually on his side in this.

FIA never did any real investigation and Briatore never had a real chance of talking, also the punishment for him and Symonds were simply against rules. Renault F1 is an independent company of Formula1 and thus the FIA has nothing to say about him being the director of the Renault F1 Team notr do they have the right to banish him from the formula1.

The FIA wanted to help this by signing all the employees to the formula1 management, but who will agree with this? It is simple, it is like giving an whole company to someone for free. With those contracts the FIA can simply fire Directors, CEO's engineers and drivers from their teams by banishing them.

Briatorre had ample time and opertunity to comment on all the accusations.
He is lucky he is not in prison in Singapore.

[myurr]

I have a huge dislike of Flavio, but an even bigger dislike of the way he was convicted by the FIA. Basically the investigator of the case, who was also the prosecutor and just so happened to have a personal vendetta against Flavio, claimed to have a testimony from someone saying Flav was guilty. That person couldn't be named and no further details could be given. The prosecutor was also the judge and decided that Flav was guilty as charged and that his punishment would be a lifetime ban.

As much as I hate Flavio that isn't a fair trial and it is no way to sit in judgement of anyone. There should be another investigation and fair trial with proper procedure being followed. Then, should it be proved that Favio is as guilty as everyone is assuming (and in all likelyhood he is guilty) then and only then should he be condemned.

[autogyro]

I have a huge dislike of Flavio, but an even bigger dislike of the way he was convicted by the FIA. Basically the investigator of the case, who was also the prosecutor and just so happened to have a personal vendetta against Flavio, claimed to have a testimony from someone saying Flav was guilty. That person couldn't be named and no further details could be given. The prosecutor was also the judge and decided that Flav was guilty as charged and that his punishment would be a lifetime ban.

As much as I hate Flavio that isn't a fair trial and it is no way to sit in judgement of anyone. There should be another investigation and fair trial with proper procedure being followed. Then, should it be proved that Favio is as guilty as everyone is assuming (and in all likelyhood he is guilty) then and only then should he be condemned.

All this talk about 'proper procedure' annoys me.
The 'proceedure' is well documented and is part of the agreement made between all parties and the FIA when they elect to go racing.
The judgement was made under this established and accepted format, not under the civil laws of the country the 'crime' occured in. Briatorre is very very lucky that the Singapore Authorities have not as yet acted.

[myurr]

I have a huge dislike of Flavio, but an even bigger dislike of the way he was convicted by the FIA. Basically the investigator of the case, who was also the prosecutor and just so happened to have a personal vendetta against Flavio, claimed to have a testimony from someone saying Flav was guilty. That person couldn't be named and no further details could be given. The prosecutor was also the judge and decided that Flav was guilty as charged and that his punishment would be a lifetime ban.

As much as I hate Flavio that isn't a fair trial and it is no way to sit in judgement of anyone. There should be another investigation and fair trial with proper procedure being followed. Then, should it be proved that Favio is as guilty as everyone is assuming (and in all likelyhood he is guilty) then and only then should he be condemned.

All this talk about 'proper procedure' annoys me.
The 'proceedure' is well documented and is part of the agreement made between all parties and the FIA when they elect to go racing.
The judgement was made under this established and accepted format, not under the civil laws of the country the 'crime' occured in. Briatorre is very very lucky that the Singapore Authorities have not as yet acted.

It may be documented, but the fact that everyone is judging Briatore on the ruling doesn't make it any less a kangaroo court. For example, explain to me this: How can a trial be fair if you are not even told who your accuser is or the evidence they present as fact?

[autogyro]

The FIA is not a democracy, it is a sporting body with rules and regulations that are agreed between all those who operate under it.
Briatore was given ample time to put his case.
He chose not to.

[myurr]

But you are using that ruling to pass your own judgment on him. An extreme example but Mugabe and many other dictators all operate within the law of the land, and just like Max often pervert that law to their own ends. A kangaroo court ruling and Max's word do not make Flavio guilty and lucky not to be tried in a Singapore court.

[myurr]

Briatore was given ample time to put his case.
He chose not to.

Someone that knows you, but who wishes to remain anonymous, has reliably informed me that you are guilty of stealing £10 from me. Due to their confidentiality I'm not going to tell you any more than that. Prove your innocence.

[autogyro]

Briatore was given ample time to put his case.
He chose not to.

Someone that knows you, but who wishes to remain anonymous, has reliably informed me that you are guilty of stealing £10 from me. Due to their confidentiality I'm not going to tell you any more than that. Prove your innocence.

Incorrect.

Briatore was the Renault team principle.
The FIA were given evidence to show that a Renault car was crashed on purpose to gain an unfair advantage and which endangered lives.

As the team principle, Briatore was responsible for this action, even if he did not order it to take place.

It was Briatore hmself who elected not to defend his position.
In the circumstances the FIA had no choice but to ban him.

[Giblet]

I think autogyro is on to the point that this is not a gov, as as such, it does not have to act as one.

They answer to "us the sport" not "we the people".

If you come to my front door and ask to come in, and I invite you in, there is already a lot happening in good faith.

If you try to ogle my wife, or steal my silverware, I kick you out the front door, and I don't need to answer your lawyers or your accusations.

It's my house, and you are no longer welcome. Flavio was no longer able to be there in good faith.

Fair or not, he brought this on himself, and if you perform unprecedented actions you better expect unprecedented repercussions.

[WhiteBlue]

2.1 All drivers, competitors and officials participating in the Championship undertake, on behalf of themselves, their employees, agents and suppliers, to observe all the provisions as supplemented or amended of the International Sporting Code (the Code), the Formula One Technical Regulations (the Technical Regulations) and the present Sporting Regulations together referred to as “the Regulations”.

3.1 It is the competitor's responsibility to ensure that all persons concerned by his entry observe all the requirements of the Regulations. If a competitor is unable to be present in person at the Event he must nominate his representative in writing. The person having charge of an entered car during any part of an Event is responsible jointly and severally with the competitor for ensuring that the requirements are observed.

4.1 All drivers, competitors and officials participating in the Championship must hold a FIA Super Licence.
Applications for Super Licences must be made annually to the FIA through the applicant's ASN.

As 3.1 stipulates the team principal represents the competitor and is a super licensee of the FiA. As such he must answer to charges or suffer if he selects not to answer. By retiring from the position of team principal a person cannot avoid the responsibility for infringements that happened prior to the retirement. The retirement under current FiA statues and regulations reduces the scope of the FiA to punish a retired licensee. This is the issue currently still under dispute.

[myurr]

Briatore was given ample time to put his case.
He chose not to.

Someone that knows you, but who wishes to remain anonymous, has reliably informed me that you are guilty of stealing £10 from me. Due to their confidentiality I'm not going to tell you any more than that. Prove your innocence.

Incorrect.

Briatore was the Renault team principle.
The FIA were given evidence to show that a Renault car was crashed on purpose to gain an unfair advantage and which endangered lives.

As the team principle, Briatore was responsible for this action, even if he did not order it to take place.

It was Briatore hmself who elected not to defend his position.
In the circumstances the FIA had no choice but to ban him.

So you are saying that due to a private plot by Piquet and Simmonds that Briatore should be banned from the sport for life - when both men proven (through admission of guilt) to have been involved receive lesser punishments, and when there has been no evidence beyond Max's word that Briatore was at all involved.

Surely then Todt should have been banned for life for Schumachers Jerez 97 crash!?