Briatore was banned from Formula One in September for his role in a race-fixing scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. The Italian was accused of ordering Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet to deliberately crash so that his Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso could win the race.

But a French court on Tuesday ruled the evidence provided by motor sport's governing body, FIA, was too weak. It said Briatore's lawyers were unable to question witnesses who gave their evidence anonymously. Briatore was awarded 15,000 euros ($21,000) in compensation.

However, he has demanded the FIA pay him an additional one million euros in damages.

New head for Renault F1

Meanwhile, Renault announced Tuesday that Frenchman Eric Bouiller will be taking over the Renault Formula One team.

The 36-year-old has no Formula One experience, but he has managed the DAMS team in the junior GP2 series. He also ran the French entry in the A1 GP championship.

"In the past Renault has demonstrated that it is one of the top teams in Formula One and I am sure that with hard work and determination we can challenge at the front once again," Bouiller said in a statement.

Bouiller says he plans to work with Bob Bell, who acted as stand-in principal after Briatore, on the sporting and performance aspects of the team.

mk/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Sonia Phalnikar