Flavio Briatore’s future as joint owner of QPR is under threat after the Football League announced they are looking into the circumstances surrounding his life ban from Formula One.

The disciplinary action, imposed on the former Renault team principal for instructing a driver to deliberately crash, appears to put him in direct violation of the League’s ‘fit and proper person test’.

The test stipulates that an owner, prospective owner or director of a club should not be “subject to a ban from a sports governing body relating to the administration of their sport”.

A Football League spokesman said today: “The Football League chairman, Lord Mawhinney, has today written to the FIA to request further details of its decision.

“Thereafter, the League will consider its position on the matter.”

Briatore is co-owner of QPR along with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. He is also chairman of the club’s holding company that owns the club and a director on the board.

There have been suggestions that Mittal may now buy out his stake in the club.