How Boullier shook off ’ghost’ of Briatore

Eric Boullier has admitted that one of his tasks last year was to shake off the "ghost" of Flavio Briatore.

With Renault F1 in tatters after the crashgate affair, Frenchman Boullier was appointed boss by new owners Genii and he has retained the post after the arrival of Group Lotus.

Recalling his arrival a year ago, he said: "I had the ghost of my predecessor in mind. I took away everything that had to do with him (Briatore)," Boullier is quoted by France’s Autohebdo.

"I changed my office, the style of management. The only way was to erase everything or make it different, but not myself. I had nothing to lose," he added.

Today, Boullier said he is happy to still be heading the Enstone based team and told L’Equipe that he hopes the black and gold Lotus Renault GP car wins races.

"I want people to see this team as a great one like Ferrari or McLaren," he said.

"Now I feel like I belong and it’s much easier," added Boullier, looking back on his arrival in January 2010.

"I’m happy to be intact after the first year. To earn respect for the team is no small victory and it was my main challenge.

"If it had not worked, I’d have gone back to what I can do but it’s been a year and I’m still here!"
Source: Motorsport

Briatore shocked over Ferrari's mistake

Fernando Alonso's former manager Flavio Briatore rumbled on behalf of his protégé in the La Repubblica newspaper. According to Briatore Ferrari made the biggest mistake in the easiest race in Abu Dhabi.

- Ferrari miscalculated. Fernando should have been able to drive a completely different race. Ferrari shouldn't even have thought of Mark Webber because Fernando was so fast.

How was a mistake like that then possible?

- It's hard to say. Maybe they just interpreted Webber's early pitstop the wrong way. Mark didn't come to the pits because of some revolutionary strategy, he came because he had hit the wall. They didn't notice that at Ferrari, instead they started following men and fell into a trap, Briatore acknowledged.

Would Alonso now be a world champion if Briatore would have managed in the Ferrari pit?

- It is not correct to ask something like that at a moment like this. We are wiser after one day after the race. The day before and on racing day it's the most difficult when the solutions have to be made in one second and there's a risk of a mistake on every lap.

- It is a stupid scandal to bring a race this crucial on a track where you cannot make one single overtake.Somewhere in Monaco it's crowded but the Abu Dhabi track is in the middle of the desert where they could have built long and wide straights., which would have been able to build a long straight and wide curves. Now nobody can overtake even if they were sitting on camel's back.

- I'm so sorry for Fernando. He is a phenomenal driver, who drove a brilliant season. It is a pity that everything is now played down.

Turun Sanomat, Rome

Courtesy: Nicole

Briatore's Ferrari visit triggers rumours

Flavio Briatore made a visit to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters last week.

The news, revealed by Italian sources including Autosprint and La Gazzetta dello Sport, has unleashed a flood of rumours about the reason for the disgraced former Renault boss' visit.
Briatore reportedly met with team boss Stefano Domenicali as well as Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo.

The 60-year-old is banned from having a direct operational role in Formula One until 2013, but he remains Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso's manager.

He also manages Mark Webber, rekindling suggestions that the disgruntled Australian driver might be eyeing a move to Ferrari, even though both he and Felipe Massa are under contract for 2011.

A sporting and commercial consultancy role with Ferrari is also rumoured, but more likely is a link with Briatore's reported closeness to a role alongside F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone.
Also possible is that Briatore is sitting on the other side of the fence, having last year so stridently argued for leading teams to abandon Ecclestone and the FIA and set up a breakaway championship.

It is also possible that he was representing Ecclestone as talks for the 2013 Concorde Agreement commence, or that he was invited by Ferrari for his insight on the plans of the F1 supremo.
Autosprint also claims that Briatore is looking for a house in Bologna, less than an hour's drive from Maranello.

Amid Ecclestone's burgeoning stance against the FOTA group, talks with F1's most influential and famous team would therefore be a good place for Briatore to re-commence his campaign.

Source: Motorsport.com

Italian police seize Briatore's yacht

Italian police have seized Flavio Briatore's yacht.

A week after the banned former Renault boss hosted Bernie Ecclestone on the 60-metre Force Blue on the Monaco harbour, police boarded it on Thursday.

They had followed the yacht with high speed boats to the port of La Spezia, near the northern city of Genoa, with the 60-year-old Italian, his wife Elisabetta and new son Falco all on board.

Local prosecutor Walter Cotugno ordered the boat be impounded on the suspicion it is improperly registered as a charter.

Investigators suspect Briatore has registered it in the Cayman Islands, with a hire price of 275,000 euros a week, in order to obtain a tax break and to avoid paying sales tax when anchoring in European harbours.

They suspect the yacht is not chartered at all and in fact is used only by Briatore's family.

Source: Motorsport.com