Did Flavio Briatore almost get killed in London ?

[f1-gast]

Im not sure if i have to believe this.
But this morning i was visiting a friend of mine having some chitchat and drink some coffee, and he's also a big formula 1 fan.
And he told me that Flavio Briatore almost got killed by an bomb attack in London ? like in in the eary 90's and it happend before ?

I inmiddently thought about Andrea Moda that survived 3 killing attempts and even survived an attack on his own night club.
But is it true that Briatore had to fear for his life back in the days, i know the guy is well an eccentric personality.

When searching on it i find only things about the ETA planning bomb attacks to kill the prime minister and this stuff.

[mario]

Im not sure if i have to believe this.
But this morning i was visiting a friend of mine having some chitchat and drink some coffee, and he's also a big formula 1 fan.
And he told me that Flavio Briatore almost got killed by an bomb attack in London ? like in in the eary 90's and it happend before ?

I inmiddently thought about Andrea Moda that survived 3 killing attempts and even survived an attack on his own night club.
But is it true that Briatore had to fear for his life back in the days, i know the guy is well an eccentric personality.

When searching on it i find only things about the ETA planning bomb attacks to kill the prime minister and this stuff.

Looking at his profile over at Grandprix.com, there is a brief mention of a bomb attack occurring outside of his house when he was living in London - it seems to suggest that there may be some truth in the story, although it doesn't indicate when that attack occurred or whether or not it was intended to be a direct attack on him. Perhaps, given that he was based in the UK in the early 1990's with the Benetton team, he might have become caught up in one of the major bomb attacks that the IRA carried out in major urban centres at the time, particularly in the business district of London.

[midgrid]

I read somewhere (can't remember the source) that the rumour was that he had given an Italian racing driver with links to the mafia an F1 (or F3000?) test, which had been hampered by reliability problems, and the driver's backers were displaying their displeasure at having to pay for such an unproductive event. Unfortunately I can't recall the name of the driver, either.

[f1-gast]

The only Italian driver i can think of is in this case Giovanni Bonanno ?

[DemocalypseNow]

I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to investigate the Mafia's involvement in Italian motorsport? I assume it would be quite risky, and anyone who finds something interesting would end up sleeping with the fishes

[midgrid]

The only Italian driver i can think of is in this case Giovanni Bonanno ?

Yes! That's him. It was a Tony Dodgins column for Autosport: I found it reposted here

Flavio was always colourful. Shortly after he moved to something a little more substantial in a Mayfair square, his front door made a Semtex-assisted departure from its frame at some unearthly hour in the morning. Who knows what the neighbours must have thought...

I can't remember all the details but I recall someone telling me that Flavio had taken some money from a young F3000 hopeful, one Giovanni Bonanno, for an F1 test. Students of mafia history will appreciate that this fellow has the same surname as one of the mob's better-known families. Apparently the test hadn't gone well, it had been raining and the lad ended up in the barrier after not very many laps. That was as far as it went. Someone apparently didn't think it was value for money.

Asked about his flyaway front door in the F1 paddock, Briatore shugged. "No idea," he said, "must have been the IRA..."

[ibsey]

I wonder if anyone has ever attempted to investigate the Mafia's involvement in Italian motorsport? I assume it would be quite risky, and anyone who finds something interesting would end up sleeping with the fishes

I'm sure I read somewhere on the main site, that the reason loads of Italian drivers, team owners & backers got involved in F1 around the 70's & 80's was because it was a way of laundering dodgy money.

Also I've always had my suspections about the Las Vegas GP. Given how in the early 1980's Las Vegas was still run by the mob. Interesting thoughts indeed. Mind you if all the above is true it wouldn't be a complete surprise, given the various dodgy characters we did see in F1 around the 1980's.

[f1-gast]

Here is our "Maffia" Driver
Wasnt Bonanno one of the announced drivers for the First Team ?

[Hound55]

Wasnt Bonanno one of the announced drivers for the First Team ?

No, they had one driver for their F1 team, and that was Gabriele Tarquini. However, he did race for for them in F3000 in 1991 for a few rounds before they folded, then moved to BFG3000. He drove only the first four rounds of F3000 for Becsport in 1990, meaning that he missed both of his home grand prix. And he drove in 1992 for SC Lazio Oil for most of the rounds. Never scored points, so its very clear he must have been some sort of pay driver. The legality of these funds, however, is up to dispute.

But this data is all from Wikipedia, and I had to put all of it together myself. He, unsurprisingly, doesn't have a Wikipedia page. Or really anything that a quick Google search can unveil. I couldn't find anything that related him to the Bonanno family, but I wouldn't consider it out of question. What a mysterious driver...

[Yannick]

Never heard about this one, but driver development in those days was more interesting then than today, an era with no testing.

The driver is profiled on another site on the whereabouts of former F3000 drivers.

An occasional rally competitor in Italy, he is also sporting director of a motorcycle enthusiasts club which promotes, organises and participates in motorcycle events or links up with major races.

[Faustus]

Wasnt Bonanno one of the announced drivers for the First Team ?

No, they had one driver for their F1 team, and that was Gabriele Tarquini. However, he did race for for them in F3000 in 1991 for a few rounds before they folded, then moved to BFG3000. He drove only the first four rounds of F3000 for Becsport in 1990, meaning that he missed both of his home grand prix. And he drove in 1992 for SC Lazio Oil for most of the rounds. Never scored points, so its very clear he must have been some sort of pay driver. The legality of these funds, however, is up to dispute.

But this data is all from Wikipedia, and I had to put all of it together myself. He, unsurprisingly, doesn't have a Wikipedia page. Or really anything that a quick Google search can unveil. I couldn't find anything that related him to the Bonanno family, but I wouldn't consider it out of question. What a mysterious driver...

He destroyed a Benetton in a test in Silverstone, didn't he?

[f1-gast]

Yes he did after 4 laps or so on a wet Silverstone he destroyed one completly

[LadyMarussia295]

I read some italian posts about a bomb attack near Briatore's home in the 90s. Not sure about being a failed killing attempt though.

I did some research about Bonanno, the racing driver, and it turned out that his father was linked to mafia.

The father was mentioned as linked with another mafia family, anyway.
Bonanno is a quite common last name.