London - Flavio Briatore and Patrick Symonds are both to appeal against unlimited bans handed down by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council over race-fixing at last year's Singapore Grand Prix, the Guardian newspaper reported Thursday. Former Renault team principal Briatore denies helping Fernando Alonso win the race through a crash from Nelson Piquet Jr and will have his appeal heard in Paris on November 24.
According to the Guardian, former Renault chief engineer Symonds is to join Briatore in the appeal where the Italian will allege that the World Motor Sport Council of the FIA, chaired by Max Mosley, was "clearly blinded by an excessive desire for personal revenge" when it made the ruling in September.
Briatore is reportedly asking for a total annulment of the FIA's ban and is also demanding a minimum of 1 million euros(1.5 million dollars) in compensation for the damage to his reputation.
Piquet Jr accused Briatore and Symonds of instructing him to crash deliberately during the 2008 Singapore GP. Briatore has denied all knowledge of the incident while Symonds claims the idea had been thought up by the driver himself.
