From titles to Crashgate: Who is Flavio Briatore?

Eye for talent

Flavio Briatore comes from outside of the world of F1, as he was never the fan of the sport. He was first appointed by Benetton in 1988 as commercial director, where he signed then fired John Barnard, to whom some refer to as the 'Adrian Newey' of his era, but the Briton left over monetary dispute.

He played a part in signing Michael Schumacher from Jordan, that earned the team two drivers' world titles in 1994 and 1995. He first came in contact with Renault by the end of 1994 after acquiring the Ligier team, and from 1995, Benetton swaped Ford engines for Renault ones, while during the same time, he took total control over the latter team. He also briefly bought into Minardi in 1996, but eventually sold his stakes back.

After he was let go by Benetton in 1997, he then also led Supertec, a company that gave Renault engines to several F1 teams including Williams, and also for his former team Benetton. He was reappointed by Renault (who purchased Benetton and first competed under the name Benetton-Renault in 2001 and then as Renault completing the transition in 2002) as managing director and team principal in 2000.

In 2003, Briatore decided to fire young British driver Jenson Button, and replaced him with Fernando Alonso, who at the time had only one season with Minardi in F1 and was Renault's test driver in 2002. With Alonso, Renault won back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006.

The Italian was also the manager of drivers such as Mark Webber, Jarno Trulli, Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr., and other than Webber, every driver has competed for his team, Renault.

Tricks up his sleeve

Briatore's team, Benetton, were first accussed of cheating in 1994, using an irregual method to make their pit stops quicker and also using illegal traction control. Tricks with the fuel pump allegedly also led to the famous incident when Jos Verstappen's car was caught on fire. Over 1994, Schumacher was disqualified twice and was not allowed to compete during another two Grands Prix. During the Belgian Grand Prix, Schumacher was disqualified for plank wear.

At the British Grand Prix, Schumacher also overtook Damon Hill on the formation lap, for which he received a five-second time penalty. The German did not serve the penalty and the black flag was waved for him, but he stayed out on track to complete the rest of the race. He was later disqualified, and given a two-race ban. On the final race of the season, Schumacher also crashed with Damon Hill. After all these controversies, Briatore and Benetton still achieved ther first drivers' title with the German, then they won the constructors' title for the first time the following year.

More than a decade later, Briatore and Renault were accussed of having information on McLaren's 2006 and 2007 cars. Renault were found guilty, but were not punished, unlike McLaren, who had their own 'Spygate' with Ferrari.

Then at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, 'Crashgate' happened. After a disappointing qualifying performance, Fernando Alonso was asked into the pit lane early to refuel his car. Then, Nelson Piquet Jr. (Briatore was also the manager of the Brazilian) was forced to crash to cause a Safety Car, that led to the Spaniard leading and eventually winning the race. After Piquet Jr. was let go by Renault during the following year, the Brazilian declared that Briatore and Pat Symmonds were the minds behind the incident.

The team principal and Symmonds had to resign and were banned for fixing the outcome of a a sporting event. Interestingly so, Alonso went on to win the next Grand Prix after Singapore, in Japan, without any tricks by Renault.