Nelson Piquet and his son, Nelson Piquet Jnr, have launched a £200,000 libel suit against former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore.

The action comes in the wake of Crashgate, the scandal that followed the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, in which Piquet Jnr deliberately crashed his car, allegedly under orders from Briatore.

In the aftermath of the scandal Briatore received a lifetime ban from FIA sanctioned motorsport, a decision which a French court subsequently overturned but which the FIA has said it will appeal.

While Piquet found himself virtually unemployable in F1 and a number of sponsors deserted the French team, parent company Renault subsequently sold a large slice of the team to Luxembourg-based private investment firm Genii Capital.

The Piquets law suit, which will be heard in the High Court in London and sees them represented by Dominic Crossley of Steeles (law) llp, who have previously represented Tony Purnell in his action against Tom Rubython and Max Mosley in the wake of revelations about his private life in 2008, relates to a press release issued by the Renault F1 team last year which allegedly accused the Brazilian duo of giving false evidence to the FIA and blackmailing the team.

"Given Renault F1's failure to accept the Piquets' invitation to withdraw the allegations and apologise, they feel they have no other choice but to demonstrate the falsity of these allegations in court," Crossley told the Daily Mail.