Briatore admits no ‘guilt’ as crashgate ends

Despite the FIA agreeing to end its push to have a lifetime ban re-imposed, Flavio Briatore insists he is not guilty of race-fixing.

F1’s governing body on Monday announced that, after talks with the sacked Renault boss as well as ‘crashgate’ co-conspirator Pat Symonds, a settlement has been reached to end the scandal.

The FIA said the duo “expressed their regrets and presented their apologies”, in return for all legal action being dropped and the bans being effective only until 2013.

But Briatore, who turned 60 on Monday, later clarified that his regret and apology was not an admission of “personal guilt”.

The Italian’s statement, issued by his lawyers, also insisted that the settlement was not a recognition that the FIA’s verdict about Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate Singapore crash being true was “well-founded”.

“No further comment will be made by Flavio Briatore, who wishes to put behind him this matter and focus on his plans for the future,” added the statement.

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