Flavio Briatore has lifetime motorsport ban overturned

Flavio Briatore has had his lifetime ban from motor racing overturned at a court hearing in Paris.

The French tribunal ruled that the punishment had been illegally imposed by Formula One's governing body, the FIA.

Former Renault boss Briatore was banned after he and Pat Symonds were alleged to have ordered Nelson Piquet Jr to crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when he was driving for the team. Symonds, who was Renault's technical director at the time, was banned for five years but has also had his punishment overturned.

The judge in charge of the tribunal said there were several irregularities in the original decision to ban Briatore and Symonds from the sport: "The court ruled the sanction was illegal."

Both men were seeking compensation at the tribunal, with Briatore asking for a million Euros in damages and Symonds demanding 500,000 Euros. Briatore was awarded 15,000 Euros while Symonds received just 5,000.

The FIA has said it will probably appeal against the decision to overturn its punishments.