Bye-bye Briatore

To be honest with you I don’t give two hoots about Formula One as a sport. In fact, I don’t even consider it as a sport as – in my opinion – the role of the driver is far too minor compared to the car’s.
Anyway, even though I don’t follow F1, I couldn’t help raising a chuckle today when I heard about the life ban imposed on the above mentioned sleazebag.

Here is an excerpt from the Guardian's website:
The former Renault Formula One managing director Flavio Briatore was today effectively banned from motor sport for life, for his part in a scandal that the sport's governing body said was of "unparalleled severity".
However, the World Motor Sport Council effectively gave Renault a green light to continue in formula one. The team, who chose not to contest Nelson Piquet Jr's claims that he was asked to crash into a wall during the 2008 Singapore grand prix in order to hand an advantage to his team-mate, Fernando Alonso, will be permanently banned only if they commit a "comparable breach" by the end of 2011.
Although unable to take action against Briatore personally, after he left Renault last week, the 26-member WMSC said it would not sanction any event involving him "in any capacity whatsoever".
It also said it would refuse to renew licences to any driver associated with Briatore in any capacity, meaning that all those managed by him will have to extricate themselves from their contracts. They include Alonso, Piquet, Mark Webber and Heikki Kovalainen.