London: Formula One's governing body has agreed a legal settlement that would allow banned former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering head Pat Symonds to return to the sport after 2012.
"They have undertaken to abstain from having any operational role in Formula One until 31 December 2012, as well as in all the other competitions registered on the FIA calendars until the end of the 2011 sporting season," the International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement on Monday.
Briatore was handed a life ban last year for his involvement in a race-fixing scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet agreed to crash deliberately to help his then team mate Fernando Alonso to win.
A French court last year ruled in favour of Briatore in a hearing to have the ban overturned although the FIA had said it would appeal.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 00:02