The lawsuit between Felipe Massa, Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1, and the FIA began on Tuesday in the London High Court. The Brazilian is taking the sport and the former F1 supremo to court over the 2008 World Championship. Since Ecclestone has admitted that he wanted to cover up the infamous crashgate scandal at the time, Massa is convinced that he unjustly lost the 2008 title to Lewis Hamilton.
Massa’s lawsuit revolves entirely around crashgate. During the 2008 Singapore GP, Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed his Renault into the wall, in an attempt to help teammate Fernando Alonso win. Team boss Flavio Briatore was held responsible and was subsequently banned for life from Formula 1 – a decision later overturned by a French court. Briatore now has influence within the current Alpine team again. In 2023, Ecclestone admitted in an interview that he and then FIA president Max Mosley knew that Piquet’s crash was intentional. However, they wanted to avoid ‘a major scandal’.
Partly due to the outcome of the GP in Singapore, the 2008 championship was decided in Hamilton’s favor. Now that Ecclestone has admitted that crashgate was covered up, Massa – who finished second with Ferrari at the time – wants to be recognized as the rightful world champion. In addition, he is demanding damages of over eighty million dollars. The Brazilian emphasizes that he does not want to take the title away from Hamilton – an order that the High Court probably cannot impose.
Massa: ‘Will Go to the Extreme’
The lawsuit was filed on March 12, 2024, and officially commenced on Tuesday, October 28 – on Ecclestone’s birthday. Massa chose the prominent sports lawyer Nick De Marco KC as his representative. The Briton recently acted against McLaren CEO Zak Brown in the ongoing case involving four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou. He was also previously involved in various notorious lawsuits in football.
In September, Massa promised that he ‘will go to the extreme’ and expressed his hope for a ‘fair’ outcome. “Taking responsibility is essential to prevent fraud in the future,” he told The Times. “Those charged with protecting the sport have directly violated their duties and should not benefit from hiding their own misconduct. Such actions are unacceptable in any aspect of life, but especially in a sport that has millions of fans worldwide. We will continue to the extreme to achieve a fair outcome. For myself, for motorsport in Brazil, and for the sport in general.”
