Briatore picks up £6.5 million through Spanish F1 broadcast

Flavio Briatore, the former boss of Renault's Formula-1 team, made £6.5 million last year from the rights to broadcast the sport in Spain according to the latest accounts for his Kent-based company Stacourt.

Since then, however, Briatore has had little enough to smile about: in September he resigned from Renault after it was discovered that he fixed the result of a race last year. The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) — F1's governing body — banned him from working in the sport but Briatore will today challenge this in a French court and is demanding at least 1 million (£901,000) in damages.

Last year Stacourt paid a £670,000 dividend and a £5.8 million consultancy fee to Formula FB Business, Briatore's Virgin Islands management company, a £600,000 increase on what was paid a year earlier. Stacourt is controlled by Briatore's FB Trust and its revenues come from selling the rights to broadcast F1 in Spain, one of the sport's most lucrative markets.

Last year Spain's interest in F1 took off as the country hosted two races for the first time in more than a decade. Briatore has made more than £22 million from Stacourt since it was set up in 2002. Most TV rights deals are arranged directly by the Formula One Group but its chief executive Bernie Ecclestone handed the Spanish rights to Briatore for a song because F1 had little exposure in Spain.

Briatore changed that by signing Fernando Alonso, a Spanish driver who was managed by him, to drive for Renault in 2003. A year later, Stacourt sold the Spanish rights to TV channel Telecinco for an estimated annual £3.5 million.

The 2004 Spanish Grand Prix became the most-watched race in the country and interest exploded when Alonso won back-to-back world championships in 2005 and 2006. Stacourt's turnaround has been so successful that F1's ultimate owner, private equity firm CVC, seized the rights from Briatore this year and signed a contract directly with rival Spanish station Mediapro for an annual £65 million.