Flavio Briatore is contemplating legal action against motor sport’s governing body following his lifetime ban from Formula One.

International reports suggest the disgraced former Renault boss is desperate to clear his name after being banished from the sport for his role in last year’s scandalous Singapore Grand Prix incident when he ordered Nelson Piquet to crash.

“I am distraught,” Briatore, 59, told Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport, as he decides the next course of action in his bid to overturn his ban.

Apparently, Briatore is not alone in his feelings. Carlos Gracia, head of the Spanish Motor Sport Federation, and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council — the outfit that condemned Briatore in Paris on Monday — admitted he was surprised by the “excessive” nature of the decision.

“I wouldn’t rule out him going to ordinary justice because he has been left without his means of earning a living,” Gracia said.