by Felipe Massa insists “the truth will come out” amid his legal case against Formula 1, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone over Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 title win – but the former Ferrari driver could not reveal when the case will end .
Brazil is seeking an admission that sportsmen failed to adequately investigate the 2008 ‘Crashgate’ scandal. The impact of the opening race in Singapore on the following year’s championship was evident after Hamilton won the penultimate race as Ferrari star Massa lost out by one point.
New comments in 2023, by Ecclestone, about the scandal in Singapore prompted Massa to take legal action, with his lawyers. sending An eight-page ‘Letter Before Claim’ to F1 and the FIA last August, alleging their client was the “victim of a conspiracy”.
After not receiving a proper response, Massa confirmed in March that his lawyers had filed a lawsuit in the High Court in London. The 43-year-old is seeking more than £62m ($80m) in damages and an admission that the FIA breached its own regulations in not properly investigating Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash. Massa believes that if the accident had been properly investigated, he would have been crowned 2008 champion over Hamilton.
In new comments, former Ferrari driver Massa said the financial strain of such a legal battle – which has now been going on for five months – is “very expensive” but maintains he is happy for “justice”. to emerge.
“I hope that the right thing will happen, for justice, for something that was not part of the sport that punished me a lot,” Massa told RacingNews365.
“This is what we’re fighting for, which is right, I believe, especially after turning 16 and hearing things that you never thought would be true.
“After that, I decided to put together a big team, professional people, divided in many different countries. They really believe that what happened was not fair, for the sport, and I certainly paid.
“When we heard about Bernie last year, after that we started to put things together, and we started to fight, to analyze things in a professional, legal way because it was not part of the sport.”
Despite the ongoing legal case, Massa could not reveal when the proceedings will be completed but he is sure that “the truth will come out.”
“I never thought that I was going to be a part of such a thing in my life,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s also very expensive, a lot of money, so I hope things end soon.
“But we are waiting so long now for justice, we have to hope that the truth will come out and that there will be justice.”
Formula 1’s ‘Crashgate’ involved Renault’s Fernando Alonso winning the race in the first Grand Prix in 2008 before it emerged that his team-mate, Piquet Jr, had deliberately crashed to avoid a safety car. ‘played into the hands of Alonso to bring out.
That safety car prompted Massa’s mishandled Ferrari pit stop, and Massa eventually finished the race 13th while Hamilton came home in third – a six-point difference, a swing that ultimately influenced the title outcome.
Although Renault and team principal Flavio Briatore were penalized in 2009, the race result stood despite Massa’s protests, with FIA statutes making clear that it is impossible to cancel the classification from each season when the FIA Awards Ceremony for that year will be completed, rule. laid down in the FIA International Sporting Code.
Ecclestone revealed last March that he and then FIA President Max Mosley knew about the ‘Crashgate’ scandal in 2008 but refused to publicize the chain of events to make it a “massive scandal”. to avoid.
He has since said he could not remember saying the key lines, telling Reuters: “I don’t remember any of this, to be honest. I definitely don’t remember giving the interview.”
Ecclestone said F1- Inner Foot earlier in 2023: “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. That’s why I used angelic tongues to convince my former driver Nelson Piquet to stay calm for now.
“Back then, there was a rule that the world championship classification could not be touched after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year. So Hamilton was awarded the trophy and everything was fine.
“We had enough information in time to investigate the situation. According to the statutes, we should have canceled the race in Singapore under these conditions.
“That means it would never happen for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would be world champion instead of Lewis Hamilton.”
Last August, ahead of the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix, Hamilton said of the matter: “I have a very bad memory. I’m really focused on the now and now and helping the team get back to the championship. I’m not focused on what happened 15 years ago.”
Despite ongoing legal action, Massa appears unable to officially overturn the result – with the FIA’s own International Sporting Code stating that protests and reviews expire 14 days after a competition and four days before a ceremony awardees of that year.
Massa’s best finish in F1 was that 2008 season and he retired in 2017 while Hamilton won a further six titles with Mercedes, holding Michael Schumacher’s joint record of seven F1 World Championships. Hamilton, now 39, will join Ferrari next year.
