- Felipe Massa was runner-up in the F1 title fight to Lewis Hamilton 15 years ago, missing out on the championship by a single point.
- Massa says race-fixing shenanigans—shenanigans that Massa believed the FIA and FOM found out about—cost him the championship.
- “I think it’s clear,” Massa told Autoweek on the current situation. “We sent a letter to the FIA, we sent a letter to FOM, and we are waiting.”
Former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa says he is willing to “fight until the end” in his quest to have the results of the 2008 F1 championship ruled in his favor.
Massa was runner-up in the F1 title fight to Lewis Hamilton 15 years ago, missing out on the championship by a single point. That season title was decided in dramatic circumstances at São Paulo after a season-long battle.
That season featured the s0-called “Crashgate” scandal, in which Renault management instructed Nelson Piquet Jr. to hit the wall in Singapore, bringing out the Safety Car, in turn playing into the strategy of Fernando Alonso, who won the race for the manufacturer.
The circumstances of that event only came to light in public 11 months after the race, when Piquet Jr. was sacked by Renault. However, in an interview given to German media earlier this year, then F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone intimated that he, along with then FIA president Max Mosley, were aware of the situation at the time.
In the Singapore race that year, Hamilton finished third, scoring six points, while Massa failed to score after his fuel hose was left affixed to his Ferrari during the pit stop after the controversial safety car period. Massa, who had led the race early on, dropped outside of the top 10 and later spun.
“I think it’s clear,” Massa told Autoweek on the current situation. “We sent a letter to the FIA, we sent a letter to FOM, and we are waiting.”
A deadline of 15 November—an extension in itself—has been set by Massa’s legal team for a ruling.
“If they don’t have the answer that we believe is correct then we’re going to go to court,” Massa affirmed.
It is unclear what legal pathway Massa can take if his case does go to the U.K. courts.
Massa outlined that “my hope is to fight for the justice of the sport, and I’m here for that. I will fight for the victory and I really believe that’s the correct thing to do, and we’ll fight until the end.”
When it was put to Massa that 15 years has passed since his title defeat, and that he could let the situation go, he was dismissive.
“But after 15 years, we (now) know Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, everybody knew in 2008 and didn’t do anything not to risk the name of Formula 1, then, definitely, that it was exactly what it changed in my mind to fight for the justice,” he said.
“It was one manipulated race, we talk about one race, all the other races were fair, Singapore was not.”
Massa retired from Formula 1 after the 2017 season, with 2008 remaining his most successful year.
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