Reports that a former Italian prime minister could be involved in plans for a new Formula 1 team have been dismissed.

Matteo Renzi, now a senator for Florence, caused a stir in the Italian media recently when he was spotted trackside at the season opening Bahrain GP.

Subsequently, it was reported that the specialist Italian magazine Autosprint had claimed the former PM might be involved in a Saudi-backed F1 team effort.

But a source at Autosprint has now told us that the claim had been "clearly ironic" as it was part of a regular satirical column called Il Flobert.