23/05/2010
NEWS STORY
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The internet has been rife with speculation over the future of Flavio Briatore in recent months. In April the flamboyant Italian got the green light to return to F1 in 2013 after the FIA agreed to end the lifetime ban imposed on him following the Crashgate scandal.
Then, at the Monaco GP, Briatore returned to the F1 paddock for the first time since the scandal blew up. He was spotted having lunch with Bernie Ecclestone on Friday and returning again on Sunday leading one website - clearly not aware that Ecclestone and Briatore had been in Monaco just two weeks earlier for the Grand Prix Historique (pictured) - to speculate that "he may soon be working for Ecclestone to help in promoting the sport." Not so it seems.
Pitpass' business editor Chris Sylt recently lunched with both Briatore and Ecclestone in the café above the Armani store on London's Brompton Road and asked the all-important questions.
First off was whether Briatore has any plans to return to F1. "No. We have a bambino," he said, referring to his two-month old son with wife Elisabetta Gregoraci. "Formula bambino, there is only one formula for the moment," he added.
Turning to Ecclestone, Sylt then asked whether he will give the Italian a job. "The baby?" was Ecclestone's initial jokey response but when Sylt stressed that he was referring to Briatore, Ecclestone made his point quite clear: "he doesn't need a job," he said. So there we have it.