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The FIA has hit back at Flavio Briatore after it emerged that he will seek Euros 1m compensation for damage to his reputation after he was banned from the sport for life following the Nelson Picquet Jr crash scandal.

The Guardian reported this week that the former Renault Formula One boss will allege that the World Motor Sport Council was “clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge” when he appeals against his ban in Paris later this month.

But the FIA responded in a statement: “The FIA condemns the selective leaking of extracts from Mr Briatore’s pleadings to the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris. The FIA rejects the allegations made in these leaks and confirms that the decision to impose a sanction against Mr Briatore was made by an overwhelming majority of the attending WMSC members.”

Briatore and Renault’s former executive director of engineering Pat Symonds were accused by their former driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, of telling him to crash during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to secure a victory for his team-mate Fernando Alonso.