Felipe Massa is on the verge of his lawsuit concerning Crashgate, the scandal that rocked the Formula 1 world in 2008. The Brazilian driver lost the world title that year to Lewis Hamilton, partly due to missing out on points during the now infamous Singapore Grand Prix. As a result, Massa is now taking Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA, and the FOM to court: ‘Their actions were unacceptable.’
In 2008, Felipe Massa narrowly lost the world title to then McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton. The Brazilian fell short by just one point in his pursuit of championship victory during his home race in São Paulo. The Brazilian Grand Prix took place a few weeks after the Singapore Grand Prix, where the now infamous Crashgate scandal occurred. During the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. was instructed to deliberately crash his car into the wall to trigger a safety car. This allowed his teammate Fernando Alonso to take the win.
At the time of Piquet Jr.’s crash, Massa was leading the race. However, he fell back to thirteenth place due to the chaos during the subsequent pit stop. The points that the Brazilian missed out on during the Singapore Grand Prix ultimately led to Massa losing the title race to Hamilton. Years later, Massa is taking the FIA, the FOM, and Bernie Ecclestone – then still the boss of the premier class – to court. Ecclestone previously stated in an interview with F1-Insider that he knew about the true nature of Crashgate. However, he decided at the time, along with other F1 authorities, not to take action to protect motorsport.
‘Such Actions are Unacceptable’
The lawsuit is set to begin on October 28. Massa hopes for a ‘fair outcome’ on the eve of the trial and promises to ‘go to the extreme’. “Taking responsibility is essential to prevent fraud in the future,” Massa explains about his goal with the lawsuit against The Times.
“Those charged with protecting the sport have directly violated their duties and they should not benefit from hiding their own misconduct. Such actions are unacceptable in any aspect of life, but especially in a sport followed by millions, including children. We will continue to the extreme to achieve a fair outcome. For myself, for motorsport in Brazil, and for the sport in general.” Massa is demanding 82 million dollars in damages, which is approximately 69 million euros.
