Motor Racing: Briatore's ban too harsh, says F1 boss Ecclestone
Posted: 25 September 2009 0611 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone said on Thursday the lifetime ban meted out to Renault team principal Flavio Briatore was too harsh.

But he also made clear his friend should have owned up before the hearing this week into Nelson Piquet junior's deliberate crash at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

"There were three people who knew what was going on and that is it. No one else was involved," the sport's powerful commercial rights holder said at public relations function here, autosport.com reported.

"Those people have been dealt with - in my view quite harshly in (regards to) Flavio. I don't think it was necessary, but I was on the commission so I am probably just as guilty as anyone else. On reflection it wasn't necessary."

He added: "It was too much. Definitely too much."

The flamboyant Italian quit as team boss last week ahead of Monday's World Motor Sport Council hearing into Renault's conduct, after the team ordered Piquet to crash to orchestrate a win for his teammate Fernando Alonso.

He was subsequently banned for life from the sport while Renault chief engineer Pat Symonds, who offered his apologies in a statement to Monday's hearing, was suspended for five years.

Piquet escaped punishment after being granted immunity.

Briatore has denied all the accusations against him over the affair, saying they were "outrageous lies", and has indicated he may challenge the legality of the ban.

Ecclestone suggested Briatore could have avoided such a harsh penalty if he had owned up to his involvement in the scam.

"Honestly, I am a friend of Flavio's," he was quoted as saying.

"He has just handled the whole thing badly. He could have handled it in a completely different way, and they would have said, 'you were a naughty boy' and that would have been the end of it."

Renault technical director Bob Bell was on Thursday appointed acting team principal for the rest of the season following Briatore's fall from grace. - AFP/de