Extraordinary war of words as F1 champions accused of corruption
Flavio Briatore has engaged in a sensational war of words with McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, slamming an “unfair” FIA court of appeal decision that stripped Alpine driver Pierre Gasly of his Monaco Grand Prix podium.
During a fiery press conference on Saturday AEST in Monza, Briatore levelled extraordinary allegations against the reigning constructors’ champions, accusing McLaren of having undue influence over the judges who ruled against Alpine.
Flavio Briatore started the conference off with a war of words with McLaren. Mark Sutton
The decision was released early Saturday, which ruled in favour of McLaren and Red Bull regarding the Monaco Grand Prix results.
The initial controversy arose when the Monaco pit lane was incorrectly measured, leading to a series of wrongful speeding penalties, including two for Gasly.
Alpine successfully appealed those initial penalties, temporarily securing a third-place finish for the Frenchman. However, the subsequent court of appeal ruling reversed that decision.
As a result of the reversal, Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar reclaimed his third-place podium finish, McLaren’s Oscar Piastri moved up to fourth and Gasly was demoted to seventh.
Briatore – who previously had a lifetime F1 ban for fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix overturned – arrived at the press conference armed with an A4 piece of paper.
Sitting directly across from Stella, the de facto Alpine principal wasted no time launching an attack on the judgment, claiming it was tainted by bias.
“We accept the decision but what is very strange was four judges in the panel. One of the judges (acted) like a prosecutor,” Briatore said in the press conference.
“This is not a big problem. The problem is he’s linked with the McLaren company, because we have a nice picture of this guy at a speech for McLaren in 2018 in MSO [McLaren Special Operations], Beverly Hills.
“He has a foundation, it’s called the One Drop foundation and McLaren gave two, three McLaren cars. This was quite unfair.
“One of the judges was linked with a team which was protesting us.”
Briatore continued, going as far as accusing the judge in question by name.
“It’s very nice to talk about the point one, one, P2, three, P, P, P. But what is unfair is that the judge was linked with McLaren. This is unfair,” Briatore continued.
“The judge normally being completely independent and this judge, the name is Filippo Marchino. Filippo Marchino is a judge, he was very nasty during the hearing, was acting as a prosecutor. And after we found out what is the reason why so nasty, this guy.
“He is very linked with McLaren.”
Oscar Piastri was one of the drivers hit with a penalty in Monaco. Getty Images
An important note is that MSO is an organisation associated with McLaren automotive, the car manufacturing wing of the company, not the F1 racing team.
Stella was visibly affronted by the accusations and delivered a cold, stony-faced rebuttal, warning that there could be severe consequences for Briatore’s inflammatory remarks.
“I find that this conference is going in this direction, quite insulting for McLaren, for the reputation of a team that deserves a lot of respect,” Stella quipped back.
“If anybody makes these kind of allegations, which seem quite serious, they are going to have to take responsibility for what they are saying in a public forum. The hearing, the whole international court of appeal was conducted to the highest standards, and we should not question this.”
