Despite having recently been involved in the takeover deal of British football club Queen’s Park Rangers, Renault boss Flavio Briatore has said he remains fully committed to Formula 1.

Briatore is part of a consortium who are considering taking over the football club, at a time when Bernie Ecclestone is rumoured to be looking at buying part of London club Arsenal. Briatore’s talks regarding the takeover are ongoing however he has stated that even if the deal is successful, no attention will be diverted away from his Formula 1 team.

“It is like any other business,” Briatore said. “I opened Cipriana in London but I am not in the kitchen cooking – I have people managing it. It is possible to have different businesses and not be involved. My business is F1. Formula 1 is my priority – 100%. Everything else we do in a professional way, but we are a group of friends. It is more fun. My focus is F1, especially next year because next year for us, we need to be competitive again. This year we are a bit on holiday and next year we need to get back to business.”

Briatore has denied that a deal with QPR is already done and dusted and he is surprised that his bid has attracted so much media interest. “We are talking,” he continued. “We are a bunch of friend together. I don’t think it is such a big issue. There are a lot of people talking at this moment with QPR and we are talking like that. I know the guys involved and it is like that – but it is nothing formally done. Absolutely nothing.”

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