Briatore bids to have ban quashed

Flavio Briatore will attempt to overturn his lifetime ban from motor sport on Monday by commencing legal proceedings against the FIA.

The former Renault team principal was handed the suspension by the World Motor Sport Council for his part in the Singapore Grand Prix crash scandal of last year.

"In this case, the FIA has been used as a tool to exact vengeance on behalf of one man," said Briatore in a statement. "This decision is a legal absurdity and I have every confidence the French courts will resolve the matter justly and impartially."

Briatore is looking to obtain an order from the Tribunal de Grand Justice in Paris quashing the World Council's decision, as well as damages reported to be in the region of one million euros (£910,000).

Briatore is claiming the grounds for his action relate to the FIA's apparent abuse of power and a breach of the rules of natural justice.