Flavio Briatore claimed today he had been betrayed by Formula One over his lifetime ban from the sport and vowed to hold a big party when he emerges victorious from the Crashgate scandal.

The former Renault boss was punished by the World Motor Sport Council on Monday for his role in Nelson Piquet Jr's deliberate crash at the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

It has been reported that Briatore will appeal to the FIA or take his case to the civil courts and he gave his clearest indication yet he will fight the ban.

“In the end I will win and we will have a big party,” he said. “It will be well organised and we'll invite everyone who has stayed close to me in these difficult times.

“I've been betrayed by my own world. I will talk only at the right time, assuming they let me talk.”

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who is Briatore's friend, and Ferrari present Luca di Montezemolo have both said the punishment is too harsh.

Renault were given a two-year suspended ban while the team's engineering director, Pat Symonds, was given a five-year penalty.

Briatore added: “Look at the verdict the FIA put online on Tuesday. It's not about me.”

Renault suffered further fall-out from the scandal yesterday when main sponsor ING and insurance company Mutua Madrilena tore up their contracts with immediate effect.

And in an ironic twist during today's opening practice in Singapore, Renault driver Romain Grosjean hit the same wall Piquet Jr crashed into last year to spark the Crashgate inquiry. It brought an end to practice for Grosjean, who had been struggling with illness in the build-up, and led to a 10-minute halt to proceedings while his car was cleared away.

The session was dominated by Brawn GP, with Rubens Barrichello topping the time-sheets as he finished two-tenths of a second ahead of team-mate and championship leader Jenson Button.

The Brazilian, who lies 14 points off Button in the title race, struggled initially before setting a best lap time of 1min 50.179sec with just five minutes left of the 90-minute session.
Ahead of the session, Button admitted he had been taking a lead from Lewis Hamilton about how to hold on to his world championship lead.

Hamilton clinched last year's F1 title by a single point having learned from his mistakes of 12 months earlier, when he seemed destined to take the crown only to lose it in the final race. And Button has turned to the reigning champion in a bid to avoid the fate his British compatriot suffered in 2007.

He said: “There is so much that can still happen in the championship. As Lewis pointed out to me, he had 17 points with two races to go and didn't win it in 2007.”