The FIA International Court of Appeal has issued a statement responding to the claims made of bias by Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore.
On Friday in an astonishing team principal's press conference, Briatore took aim at Judge Filippo Marchino, who served as a member of the panel in the ICA hearing last month brought by McLaren and Red Bull into Pierre Gasly's Monaco GP podium and penalties.
McLaren and Red Bull were protesting the stewards' decision to rescind Gasly's two five-second sanctions for pit-lane speeding after a successful right of review by Alpine, which handed him back third place. The ICA hearing ultimately decided to restore Gasly's penalties and drop him to seventh with Isack Hadjar promoted back to third.
Alpine then issued a statement, saying that whilst it disagreed with the decision, it respected it, before Briatore, in the press conference with Andrea Stella of McLaren and Fred Vasseur of Ferrari claimed one of the judges, Marchino, was biased against Alpine.
Marchino, Briatore claimed, acted like a "prosecutor" and was "very nasty", which he accepted, but what Briatore could not was his claim that Marchino held links to McLaren and thus could not be considered as impartial.
Briatore claimed that Marchino, through his One Drop Foundation in 2018, was present at an event in Beverley Hills in 2018 where McLaren Special Operations (MSO) provided cars and claimed he had a photo of Marchino with a McLaren. MSO is the road car division of McLaren responsible for the upkeep and customisation of the vehicles and is not linked to the F1 team.
In return, a furious Stella replied that the insinuation was "insulting" and warned that people making such allegations should prepare to be able to defend them.
Marchino himself has not had a right of reply to Briatore's allegations, although he has been approached by RacingNews365 with the offer of a right of response.
The ICA itself, an independent body from the FIA, has now issued the following statement in response to Briatore's allegations.
International Court of Appeal statement in full
The FIA Courts are aware of public comments questioning the independence and impartiality of the judges of the panel that decided Case ICA-2026-06-07-08-09.
The FIA Courts wish to make clear that the appointment and participation of the judges in that case, like for any other case, were conducted in accordance with the applicable FIA judicial procedures and usual practice, which are inspired by the highest standards like the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration.
All judges are elected by the FIA General Assemblies, some of them upon proposition of a group of at least five F1 teams in accordance with the FIA Statutes. They are all subject to the independence and confidentiality requirements contained in the FIA Judicial and Disciplinary Rules, make annual disclosures of interests to the FIA Compliance Officer, and sign a specific declaration of independence for each particular case in consideration of the issue at stake and the parties involved, which is served to the parties.
At both the beginning and conclusion of the hearing, the parties were invited to raise any issue concerning the proceedings or the composition of the Court. None did so. No objection was raised during the hearing concerning the manner in which the Court questioned the witness or conducted the proceedings.
The ICA emphasizes the importance of constituting panels with judges from different cultural and geographical backgrounds. This helps ensure that the deliberations and discussions reflect a diversity of legal traditions, perspectives and approaches, further strengthening the fairness, independence, credibility of the process and access to a fair trial.
A Court’s decision can leave room for various interpretations and comments as for its legal merits; that is fair and accepted by all the judges. The Court is confident in the soundness of the proceedings and the integrity of the judges. The FIA Courts remain committed to the independence and impartiality of their judges and to the integrity of the judicial process.
Laurent Anselmi (President of the ICA and of the FIA Judges Congress), Rui Botica Santos (President of the IT and Vice-President of the Judges Congress), Waltraud Wünsch (Vice-President of the ICA) and Gérard Martin (Vice-President of the IT).
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