Banned Briatore can return after 2012

LONDON - Formula One's governing body agreed on Monday to end a life ban against former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore and allow him back into the sport after 2012.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that a settlement had been reached to end ongoing legal proceedings against the flamboyant Italian multi-millionaire.

Briatore and former Renault engineering head Pat Symonds, whose five-year ban was also cut short, were barred last September for their involvement in a plot to rig the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.