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Monday September 14, 2009

Briatore rages, Mosley pessimistic about uncovering leaks

MONZA (Italy): It will be impossible to find out who leaked confidential documents concerning the “crash-gate” Formula One race-fixing scandal, according to Max Mosley, president of the sport’s ruling body, the International Motoring Federation (FIA).

Mosley, who is due to step down from his post next month, told reporters that the leaks were very annoying, but added it would be impossible to find proof of who was responsible.

“An awful lot of different people have had them for one reason or another, so it will be im­­possible and you will never get proof.

“The same thing happens in governments all the time. They keep leaking documents. You try and find out who does it, but you cannot. It is just annoying,” said Mosley.

One leaked document, the statement of Nel­son Piquet Jr, included full details of his claims that he was asked, by Renault, to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, so giving a race-winning advantage to his team-mate Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

Renault have been called to face a hearing of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Sept 21. If they are found guilty of race-fixing, they could be expelled from the sport. The team have denied all of the claims made against them by Pi­­quet Jr, who was dismissed by the team in July.

Mosley added: “They were given to everybody on the basis that they were confidential, but in the end without taking precautions to match which document against which person.

“We should have done that and changed each one so we knew who leaked them. But they have been leaked and it is very annoying.”

Renault team boss Flavio Briatore who has started legal proceedings in France against Pi­­quet Jr and his father Nelson Piquet senior, revealed the depth of his fury when he launched an astonishing tirade against them both during a briefing with Italian reporters.

Briatore, who alluded to having suspicions about Piquet Jr’s sexual inclinations, accused Piquet senior of treating Renault with the same denigrating manner that he had used against many others in the past.

“We know Nelson’s story, he’s always run down everyone,” explained Briatore. “Nelson drove for me and... Well, Nelson is blackmailing, and that’s what we have brought.

“It’s very tough for Renault to have had these put-downs from Nelsinho and from Piquet Snr, but then we know Piquet Snr.

“He has always denigrated everyone — starting from (Ayrton) Senna to Mansell’s wife; to everyone. That’s what Piquet Snr has always done. I know him well because he raced for us, I know Snr better than Jnr.” — AFP

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