A furious row has broken out in the buildup to the Italian Grand Prix between the Alpine team executive adviser and de facto team principal, Flavio Briatore, and the McLaren principal, Andrea Stella, after Briatore made extraordinary allegations about McLaren’s influence on an FIA court of appeal decision against his team, claims which Stella dismissed as “insulting”.
Early on Friday a decision was released by the court of appeal, finding in favour of McLaren and Red Bull appeals against the result of the Monaco GP, prompted by a series of pit lane speeding penalties that were incorrect. The pit lane at Monaco had been incorrectly measured, leading to the penalties, including two for Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Alpine appealed against those and they were successful, with the Frenchman subsequently awarded third place.
However, that decision went to the court of appeal who reversed the decision, demoting Gasly to seventh, with Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar returned to his third place and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri to fourth.
Briatore, who had a lifetime Formula One ban for fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix overturned, arrived for the press conferenceon Friday in Monza with an A4 piece of paper and, sitting across from Stella, immediately launched into an attack on the judgment, claiming it had been biased.
“We accept the decision but what is very strange was four judges in the panel. One of the judges act like a prosecutor,” he said. “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.”
MSO is an organisation associated with McLaren automotive, the car manufacturing wing of the company not the racing team. Stella, who was visibly affronted by the accusation, was cold and stony-faced in his reply and suggested there could be consequences for Briatore after the allegations.
“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,” he said. “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.”
Stella cited Article 1.1.1 of the international sporting code of the FIA, the governing body, under which McLaren and Red Bull had appealed and under the auspices of which the court of appeal had operated.
Briatore hit back, 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. 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.”
The court of appeal consists of four people and it is understood the makeup of the panel was known six weeks in advance at which point the parties involved could have objected to those appointed. The FIA issued a statement, stating their procedure for choosing candidates. “The eligibility of candidates for membership of the international tribunal and international court of appeal (ICA) is checked by the eligibility assessment committee, in accordance with the FIA statutes.
“The FIA judicial and disciplinary rules provide that for each case before the ICA, a judging panel is constituted, comprising at least three judges. The members of the judging panel are appointed by the president of the ICA.” Marchino is being sought for comment.
On the track at Monza, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton secured a one-two in first practice from Mercedes’ George Russell in third, with his teammate Antonelli in fifth. In the second session, Russell was quickest, one-tenth clear of Leclerc, with Antonelli third, McLaren’s Lando Norris fourth and Hamilton in fifth.
