Sport | Motorsport
Briatore's offensive remarks full of envy burning rubber
Flavio Briatore's clumsy outspokenness has earned him all-round rebukes and his Chinese takeaway from Shanghai is not one for the mealy-mouthed Italian to relish during his Bahrain stopover.
- By Ted Macauley, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 22:51 April 23, 2009
Flavio Briatore's clumsy outspokenness has earned him all-round rebukes and his Chinese takeaway from Shanghai is not one for the mealy-mouthed Italian to relish during his Bahrain stopover.
Jibes at title pacemaker Jenson Button and his race partner Rubens Barrichello, as well as brilliant team owner Ross Brawn, have left a distinctly nasty taste among those insulted by Briatore, the millionaire boss of Renault's Formula One outfit.
Even Bernie Ecclestone, his firmest friend and cohort in the takeover of Queens Park Rangers football club, was miffed by Briatore's outburst when he wrote Button off as a "paracarro", a slowcoach driver, and Barrichello as a "pensioner". Ecclestone's head-shaking response was: "I don't know what got into him."
Briatore, no doubt buoyed up by his F1 status, his vast fortune and his all-round, worldwide money-making ventures, feels untouchable - but when the boot is on the other foot and he is on the receiving end his anger is fearsome.
I know. I have been the target of one of his rages. A few years back, when I worked for the Daily Mirror, I had the temerity to feature some less-than-flattering comments on his shortcomings and, in his estimation, took one step too far. My honesty of purpose failed to impress him - he ordered his PA to summon me to his motorhome at Silverstone. There, red-faced with ire, he set about giving me a heavy dressing down. Well, I think it was, because his English was not so good then and I could barely understand a word of what I guess he intended as vitriol delivered in a growl.
His urbanity - and his command of English - has expanded in line with his ever burgeoning influence on the Grand Prix scene. And that makes his irrational dig at Button and Co even more discrediting to himself. It is clear that Briatore's jealousy at being out-thought by Brawn and outpaced by Button and 36-year-old Barrichello, has got to him as he strives to find £10 million (Dh55 million) to bring his cars up to the tech-spec required to close the gap.
The writer is a specialist motorsport writer and author based in England.
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