Flavio Briatore could be set for a shock 2013 return to F1 after legal proceedings with the FIA concluded today.
The Italian, along with his complicit technical chief Pat Symonds, had been banned for life from the sport after their instigating of Nelson Piquet Jr’s 2008 Singapore crash.
But after a long court battle brought by the two over whether the FIA was legally capable of imposing such a ban, the governing body today decided to reduce their sentences.
“After discussions between their lawyers and those of the FIA, Mr Flavio Briatore and Mr Pat Symonds have each made a settlement offer to the FIA president with a view to putting an immediate end to the legal proceedings,†the governing body said in a statement.
“Each of them recognising his share of responsibility for the deliberate crash involving the driver Nelson Piquet Junior at the 2008 Grand Prix of Singapore, as team principal of Renault F1 where Mr Flavio Briatore is concerned, they have expressed their regrets and presented their apologies to the FIA.
“They have undertaken to abstain from having any operational role in Formula 1 until 31 December 2012, as well as in all the other competitions registered on the FIA calendars until the end of the 2011 sporting season.
“They have also abandoned all publicity and financial measures resulting from the judgment of 5 January 2010, as well as any further action against the FIA on the subject of this affair.â€
