Brazilian Felipe Massa has announced he is considering legal action to regain the world title he lost to Lewis Hamilton in 2008 following Bernie Ecclestone’s revelations about the Crashgate scandal at the Formula One Singapore Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa wants to win the 2008 world title through the courts
Massa, 41, made the announcement weeks after former Formula 1 chief Bernie Ecclestone admitted he and then-FIA president Max Mosley had been briefed on irregularities in the race and preferred not to make any decisions.
“I emphasize, I am not interested in the financial side of this story, but I am interested in justice. If the two most influential people, the head of Formula 1 and the head of the FIA, knew about this in 2008 and kept silent, it is very serious and unacceptable for the sport,” – Felipe Massa for Globoesporte.
At that race in Singapore, the Renault team called on driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to cause a deliberate crash to bring the safety car onto the track. The maneuver helped his teammate Fernando Alonso win the race, and Massa left the points zone, writes EFE, citing Agerpres
In the end, the race proved to be decisive in determining the world champion, with Massa leading the drivers’ standings. The Brazilian was 13th and Hamilton third in Singapore with three races to go in the season. Then the Briton won the world title with an advantage of one point.
The following year, Piquet Jr admitted that he had deliberately caused the crash and Massa asked the FIA to annul the result in Singapore, but the international federation’s bylaws did not allow the standings to be changed at the end of the year after the awards ceremony.
Ecclestone recently stated in an interview with F1-Insider: “We decided not to do anything. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a loud scandal. That’s why I convinced ex-pilot Nelson Piquet (Jr.) to keep calm for now. At the time, there was a rule that the ranking after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year was unattainable. So Hamilton was presented with the trophy and all was well. We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statute, under these conditions we had to cancel the race in Singapore.”
Source: Hot News
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