Formula 1 blog - Linksheaven

Renault F1 team boss, Flavio Briatore, has come out swinging at a couple of his rival teams.

Briatore’s ire with McLaren was raised when McLaren announced the signing of his driver, 2005 world champion Fernando Alonso.  Briatore is (or was?) Alonso’s manager and the signing came as apparent news to Briatore.  Speaking of the signing Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport this week that “I believe it is just for a driver to want to change teams, to get new stimulation.”

Briatore used the launch of Renault’s new R26 as an occasion to again discuss his accusation that McLaren should not have announced the signing of Alonso with the entire 2006 year yet to run

“But I don’t find it at all classy that another team announces the hiring of another driver one year in advance.” Briatore also implied that McLaren used the announcement as a tool to hide
McLaren’s failure in the 2005 championship: “There are some people who, to hide the problems of the press, throw themselves into the future,” he said.

As for Red Bull, Briatore claims that by voting for a return to mid-race tyre changes for 2006 Red Bull "betrayed" the other Michelin teams.

“However, we thought it was good to have one tyre for the race. But somebody betrayed us from within the Michelin family.

“Red Bull voted against us, it was completely mad. I’m upset and it will be very interesting to see how competitive they are this season.”