Controversial supermodel-loving Flavio Briatore was given lifetime ban for Crashgate but has returned to top of F1 ...Middle East

FLAVIO BRIATORE is back in charge of a Formula One team, 16 years after he was handed a “lifetime ban” from one of the motorsport’s most infamous scandals.

The Italian has taken the reins as team principal at F1 outfit Alpine after Oliver Oakes resigned from his position just six races into the season.

That decision appears to have come due to Briatore pushing for Jack Doohan to be replaced by Franco Colapinto, a decision that was confirmed the morning after his appointment.

Briatore was brought back into the F1 fold by Renault chief Luca de Meo after more than a decade on the sidelines following 2009’s Crashgate scandal.

The incident, regarded as one of F1’s biggest controversies, had seen Renault order then driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his car at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to help Fernando Alonso win the race – a decision which had huge ramifications for the maiden title won by Lewis Hamilton.

Alonso was cleared of any wrongdoing in the aftermath, while Renault were charged by the motorsport’s governing body, the FIA, with Briatore being ousted from his then role as team principal and managing director.

Briatore was then slapped with a lifetime ban by the FIA for his part in the incident before he saw it overturned in 2010 following an ugly court battle, though he added at the time he did not think he would ever return to F1.

But fast forward 12 years, he initially rejoined the sport as an ambassador in 2022 before being appointed as special advisor to Renault last year, and it seems he has ultimately been calling the shots since then.

Fraud convictions and fugitive status

Controversy has followed Briatore both in and out of F1.

In the 1980s he was convicted on multiple counts of fraud and received two prison sentences in Italy.

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Both convictions were reduced on appeal and Briatore never actually went to jail as he lived as a fugitive on the Virgin Islands.

He returned to Europe when his convictions were extinguished by amnesty, but had maintained close relations with one Luciano Benetton, who would eventually found an F1 team.

Poaching Schumacher and Renault world champions

Briatore became the team manager of the Benetton F1 team, formerly Toleman, in 1990, after firing the previous team management in his role of commercial director.

As team manager he then managed to poach Michael Schumacher from the grasp of the late Eddie Jordan after his first F1 race, before the German went on to win F1 titles in 1994 and 1995 while Benetton won the Constructors’ Championship in 1995.

In 1994 the team was accused of using multiple forms of cheating, including unproven alleged use of illegal software and discarding a regulation fuel filter to speed up pit stops, only escaping punishment for the latter after pointing out multiple rivals had done the same.

The team slipped into the midfield when a number of key technical staff and Schumacher moved to Ferrari in 1996 before Renault took over the Benetton team in 2000.

There he found and nurtured a young Alonso and fired Jenson Button to hand the Spaniard a seat before he went on to win the Drivers Championship in 2005 and 2006 and end Schumacher’s dominance.

Supermodel fever

The glitz and glamour of the F1 lifestyle spilled over into Briatore’s personal life.

In 1998 he got engaged to supermodel Naomi Campbell, but they never married with the pair being involved in an on and off relationship before they split in 2003.

In March of that year he then started dating supermodel Heidi Klum, with Klum announcing her pregnancy in December before the pair split.

Klum gave birth to daughter Leni, but said Briatore was not involved in her life before, in 2009, she was officially adopted by Klum’s partner, Seal, and had her name changed.

Briatore briefly dated English actress and model Emma Heming Willis in 2004, with later flings coming with German catwalk pro Nadine Smith and actress Annemarie Warnkross – and it’s even been speculated he romanced Polish model Marzena Cieslik.

He eventually married “Wonderbra” model and TV presenter Elisabetta Gregoraci in 2008, with the pair being wed in Rome and Alonso driving the newlyweds to their lavish reception at the Castello di Torcrescenza.

She gave birth to son Falco in 2010, but in 2018 the pair divorced, with Briatore being seen dating Benedetta Bosi – 49 years his junior – in 2019.

However, last year it was reported in Italy that Briatore had rekindled his romance with Gregoraci.

Crashgate fallouts

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone claimed in 2023 that he and former FIA president Max Mosley had kept the “Crashgate” plot hidden initially to avoid scandal.

Ecclestone said: “We decided not to do anything for now. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. That’s why I used angelic tongues to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep calm for the time being.

“Back then, there was a rule that a world championship classification after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year was untouchable.

“So Hamilton was presented with the trophy and everything was fine. We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.

“That means it would never have happened for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”

Those comments sparked a legal case from 2008 runner-up Felipe Massa, who believes he missed out on the title that season through no fault of his own, while Piquet Jr claimed he had his F1 career threatened by Briatore if he did not follow orders.

Piquet Jr told On the Tracks Podcast: “The race came to Singapore and they put me psychologically up against the wall, I had no escape.

“A lot of people still ask me, ‘Would you do it again?’ My answer is always, ‘No, obviously not.’

“At that age and under so much pressure…

“There was no one with me, except that grotesque Briatore, who was always bullying and was always complaining, pressuring me and warning me: ‘This is your last chance’.”

F1 2025

THE new Formula One season is well underway – and one team appear to be running away with it.

A massive summer of change saw Lewis Hamilton move on from Mercedes and join Ferrari, while the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have a big chance to end Max Verstappen‘s recent dominance.

The Red Bull ace is aiming for a record-equalling FIFTH consecutive world title.

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F1 return

Before his return Briatore – a former ski instructor and co-owner of Queens Park Rangers – underwent heart surgery.

But since returning to the F1 grid, Briatore has not exactly been subtle.

The latest season of the popular Netflix series Drive to Survive features Briatore playing up to a role of villain as he told Aussie rookie Doohan “I control you every millimetre” in one scene.

Alpine sit P9 in the Constructors Championship with just seven points from six races.

And his first move as the official team boss was to axe Doohan – who he is also manager of- for Colapinto.

Now the controversial F1 manager is back in place. And fireworks are sure to follow.

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