F1 reopened to Briatore

The FIA has agreed to let Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds return to Formula 1 roles as early as 2013.

Briatore’s ‘lifetime ban’ has thus become somewhat less restrictive. The statement confirms that the Italian has agreed to ‘abstain from any operational involvement’ in F1 only until the end of 2012.

That deadline now also applies to Symonds (left with Briatore), who was originally banned for five years. Both men can become involved in other forms of racing from the end of 2011.

The FIA said that both men had admitted their share of responsibility for the Singapore crash scandal of 2008. Briatore said he accepted responsibility only in his role as Renault team boss at the time.

The FIA has now ended the appeal it had started against the decision in January to overturn the ban by France’s Tribunal de Grande Instance.