Briatore wants McLaren excluded from this years championship

Sav · **Joined:** Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:41 am **Posts:** 23785

Renault team chief Flavio Briatore launched a scathing attack on McLaren, calling for their exclusion from the Formula One world championship.

Briatore met with the Italian media yesterday at Hungary, and spared no words against McLaren and his long time nemesis Ron Dennis.

In fact, the Italian has even suggested that McLaren may have had confidential information from within Ferrari long before their claim of March this year.

"Last winter, I was saying how lucky McLaren are to be immediately that quick on Bridgestone tyres," Briatore began. "I'm a lucky guy, so it's OK for other people to be as well.

"We, on the other hand, were in full crisis mode: Michelin's retirement turned out to be a disaster for Renault."

Q: What did the McLarens have that your cars didn't?

Briatore: "It's evident that they had the data on the weight distribution by Ferrari, who used Bridgestone tyres for almost ten years. That page in the famous stolen dossier would have been enough to save months of work and to find the solution immediately."

Q: So you believe the transfer of information began before March, maybe in December?

Briatore: "Look, we made the mistake of concentrating on wind tunnel work - it took us a month to set it up with the new tyre parameters.

"Two more months were wasted, in fact also thanks to Ron Dennis: he was the one who protested us on the mass damper. He is not the immaculate saint he pretends to be on his statements."

Q: So is the 2007 championship corrupted, then?

Briatore: "Yes, and not just for us and Ferrari, but for everyone else. Here is a team that acquired an advantage illegally."

Q: What should the punishment be?

Briatore: "I'm not a judge. Just read the regulations: for intellectual property theft the punishment is exclusion."

Q: Will you go to the appeal trial?

Briatore: "Yes, obviously. In my opinion we are an injured party."

Q: What do you think about Nigel Stepney and Mike Coughlan? Ron Dennis talked about the ex-Ferrari mechanic as some sort of a hero

Briatore: "Hero? Some people, technicians and engineers, would thank their lucky star for working in F1. Coughlan and Stepney made tons of money - but that's wasn't enough for them, it seems. They should be banned."

Q: Do you have a system to avoid such information theft at Renault?

Briatore: "There's an alarm that alerts us when someone breaches out of his sector of action. But obviously you can't control everything. If someone goes to another team he will bring something with him. A page could be OK, but more than that is illegal.

"I can give you an example: we couldn't understand why Honda were pitting whenever they felt like. I took two of their engineers, and I learned that they had a twin fuel tank..."

Q: These things should be managed by the FIA

"The ideal thing would be to have Formula One with rules decided by the teams, with the FIA's seal of approval. But it can't be done. The teams are never in agreement, and we are always held up by the minority, which us usually made up of the small teams."

Q: In 2008 you will also have to use the Electronic Control Units (ECUs) made by McLaren and Microsoft (after they won the FIA tender for sole supplier)

Briatore: "That remains to be seen. At the moment I'm writing a protest. We don't want them. First of all, because they don't work on our cars: the cars don't even start up. And second, why should we send some of our data to McLaren?"

Andy Walker · **Joined:** Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:44 pm **Posts:** 678

The man is a cock. Take no notice. He was all for dumping Kovy at the beginning of the season.

Sav · **Joined:** Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:41 am **Posts:** 23785

I agree Andy, Flavio really is a twat. Stuff him. ::)

mason · **Joined:** Sat Feb 10, 2007 4:40 pm **Posts:** 555

"Sav" wrote:

I agree Andy, Flavio really is a twat. Stuff him. ::)

He's too stuck into the hot birds in the pits..........oh and on the grid

And of course he fancies Alonso (reason for sacking Trulli in 04

)

Henk Kristel · **Joined:** Sun Aug 20, 2006 11:54 am **Posts:** 282

yup he would say that
as he would benefit the most...

I vote for Briatore gets banned from all racing.. including Virtual racing

Sav · **Joined:** Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:41 am **Posts:** 23785

"mason" wrote:

"Sav" wrote:

I agree Andy, Flavio really is a twat. Stuff him. ::)

He's too stuck into the hot birds in the pits..........oh and on the grid

I agree. Flavio is known to like his women, but rather too much! [lol]

24Heures · **Joined:** Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:27 am **Posts:** 5933

FLAV what do you look like you TWAT >:D

Sav · **Joined:** Tue Apr 24, 2007 7:41 am **Posts:** 23785

Oh dear, he really is desperate.

Maybe somebody needs to tell him, your 60, not 20! [lol]

24Heures · **Joined:** Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:27 am **Posts:** 5933

I know.. God forbid if i wear anything like that when i'm his age...

Saying that i wouldn't wear it now, so i can't see that happening

Scuderia-Ferrari_Wileman · **Joined:** Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:31 pm **Posts:** 3025

Ha ha too think thats coming out of Flavio's mouth.....Imagine what will happen next year with the return of the sith.....erm i mean *dhan dhan dhaaaaaaaaaaaaa* Mr Richards :'(

24Heures · **Joined:** Sat Jun 17, 2006 10:27 am **Posts:** 5933

"Scuderia-Ferrari_Wileman" wrote:

Ha ha too think thats coming out of Flavio's mouth.....Imagine what will happen next year with the return of the sith.....erm i mean *dhan dhan dhaaaaaaaaaaaaa* Mr Richards :'(