Ecclestone: Briatore treated harshly

• Briatore handled the situation badly, says Ecclestone
• Former Renault boss warned not to go to civil court

Bernie Ecclestone believes the lifetime ban handed to the former Renault team-principal Flavio Briatore for race fixing was too harsh. However, he went on to add that Briatore "handled the whole thing badly" and could have avoided the punishment if he had confessed to his involvement.

"There were three people who knew what was going on and that is it. No one else was involved," said Ecclestone. "Those people have been dealt with – in my view quite harshly in [regards to] Flavio. I don't think it was necessary, but I was on the commission so I am probably just as guilty as anyone else.

"On reflection it wasn't necessary. It was too much. Definitely too much," he added.

Renault's former director of engineering Pat Symonds admitted his involvement in the scandal before the FIA met to rule on the incident that took place at the Singapore grand prix last year. He was given a five-year ban from motor sport and Ecclestone says Briatore could have received a more lenient sentence if he had followed Symonds's example.

"Firstly he [Flavio] was invited to appear [in front of the World Motor Sport Council] and his lawyers wrote and said the FIA have no jurisdiction as far as he is concerned, which was probably right," said Ecclestone "But it was not the right thing to say. It would have been just as easy to say: 'I was caught with my hand in the till, it seemed a good idea at the time, and I am sorry.' There is an organisation that works very, very well on that idea – where the people go to a box and confess.

"Honestly, I am a friend of Flavio's. He has just handled the whole thing badly. He could have handled it in a completely different way, and they would have said, 'you were a naughty boy' and that would have been the end of it," he added.

Ecclestone also warned Briatore not to take the matter to a civil court.

"It would be stupid of Flavio to do that. He should ask to be heard by the court of appeal," he said. "He should appeal to the FIA. If he goes to a civil court I don't think he would win. Because the FIA would have to defend and somebody will say that he sent a young guy out to what could have been to his death. So it wouldn't go down too well."