Briatore rules out F1 return

MILAN – Former Renault team chief Flavio Briatore vows that he has left Formula One for good, despite having a lifetime ban from the series overturned.

"I rule it out 100 percent," the Italian said in Friday's La Gazzetta dello Sport, when asked if he was thinking of buying another team.

Briatore was banned by FIA, the sport's governing body, last September for allegedly ordering Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

However, the ban was overturned by a Paris court in January. FIA has appealed that decision.

"For two months I was treated like a criminal," Briatore said. "I have a bitter taste in my mouth and only I know what I went through. I am calm about the appeal. I did what I had to do. The moral responsibility was given to me, but the real story hasn't yet been told."

FIA president Jean Todt said Friday from the Bahrain Grand Prix that Briatore would not escape punishment.

"We cannot forget a car was purposely crashed at the Singapore GP in 2008, and it cannot be without consequences," Todt said.

Briatore also blames the scandal for ending his involvement with English soccer club Queens Park Rangers. He quit as the London club's chairman last month.

"I did it so as not to create embarrassment to the English Football Association after what happened in Singapore," he said. "I have stepped aside, but I have held onto my shares."