F1: Piquet Ready To Begin Legal Action

Formula 1

F1: Piquet Ready To Begin Legal Action

Nelson Piquet Sr. may hit back at Flavio Briatore with his own court action depending on the outcome of Monday's World Motor Sport Council...

SPEED Staff / GMM | Posted September 18, 2009 GMM Newswire

Should the FIA World Council find Renault guilty, Nelson Piquet Sr. is ready to take Flavio Briatore to court. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Nelson Piquet Sr. may hit back at Flavio Briatore with his own court action depending on the outcome of Monday's World Motor Sport Council.

Before departing as Renault's team boss, Briatore and the French team said at Monza that criminal proceedings for false allegations and blackmail would be pursued against the triple world champion and his son.

But with Renault not planning to contest the conspiracy charges before the FIA's Paris hearing on Monday, Piquet Sr. has indicated he is prepared to return fire with his own legal action.

Piquet's son Nelson Piquet Jr, despite being ousted by Briatore after July's Hungarian Grand Prix, remains under management contract to the Italian's company FFBB.

The contract ensures that a percentage of Piquet's earnings for years to come will go to 59-year-old Briatore.

"If the FIA World Council confirms the case, I will have a hold for going to court," Piquet Sr. told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Interestingly, the previously powerful Briatore's departure from Formula One has opened the floodgates to open criticism of the flamboyant former Renault boss.

Jean Alesi, who drove under Briatore for Benetton in the 90s, is quoted by Bild newspaper as describing the Italian as an "obscene human being", while the Frenchman's manager Mario Miakawa likened him to "a Mafioso".

Former Renault test driver Frank Montagny, meanwhile, said it is necessary to separate the actions of rogue team management from the actual sporting ethos of Renault.

"That Flavio Briatore is involved in this cheating does not surprise me much," the Frenchman, who also revealed that he was made to sign a FFBB management contract before signing for Renault some years ago, told RMC radio.

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