From GMM

His custody of the formula one team Renault is not Flavio Briatore's only formula one income.

The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports that the Italian tycoon has also pocketed more than $11m recently due to his control of the sport's broadcast rights in Spain.

His take of his UK-based company Stacourt's returns is nearly $2m higher than one year ago, the newspaper said.

The majority of Stacourt's $23m turnover in 2007 came from the Spanish broadcaster Telecinco, which pays for the F1 rights.

Briatore obtained the Spanish rights from his friend, business partner and F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone in 2002.

Since then, his protege Fernando Alonso's success at Renault led to a boom in the popularity of formula one in Spain.

In a deal estimated at almost $1.5bn by Spanish media last year, the F1 broadcast rights will transfer from Telecinco to La Sexta in 2009.