Felipa Massa has said that he likely won’t attend this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, to avoid any complications with F1 amid his legal proceedings with the sport and the FIA.
Earlier this year, Massa hired a team of lawyers to consider legal action against the FIA and Formula 1 in the context of the wrongdoing that occurred over 15 years ago at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
The former Brazilian Grand Prix driver, who lost the championship that year by a single point to Lewis Hamilton, believes that the FIA and Formula 1, represented at the time by Maw Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone, engaged in a conspiracy in the wake of the 'Crashgate' scandal in Singapore that deprived him of the 2008 world title.
The Brazilian driver's lawyers contend that Massa suffered substantial financial losses amounting to tens of millions of euros due to forgone earnings and bonuses as a result of Nelson Piquet Jr's deliberate crash in the 2008 Singapore GP which was orchestrated by the Renault team.
And they have initiated a legal action against the FIA and F1 to have the results of the 2008 championship overturned.
In September, Massa was due to attend the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, but F1 quietly advised the Brazilian to stay away. He subsequently also canceled his trip to the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
It is therefore likely that the eleven-time Grand Prix winner will be watching this weekend’s action at Interlagos from afar.
“The only thing I know is that F1 asked me not to go to the Monza race,” Massa told Motorsport.com. “I was also going to go to the Japan race [as ambassador] and I didn't go.
“About Brazil, nothing was discussed, we haven't had any contact since that moment before Monza until now, so..."
Pressed on whether he would appear in the F1 paddock this weekend, he said. “I believe I won't. I would [only] go to the races as an ambassador.
“But I 100% respect the [legal] situation that is happening at the moment, perhaps [to the point] of not going because of [all] that is happening.
“But there was no invitation and no conversation about my work as ambassador, so I don't think I should participate.”
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
The F1 season kicked off on this day in 1975 in Argentina where Jean-Pierre Jarier…
In a paddock where driver academies are treated like golden tickets, F2 charger Alex Dunne…
For Pierre Gasly, the invisible scars left by grief can be far more difficult to…
Oscar Piastri spent much of last year playing the "good soldier" for McLaren’s papaya rules.…
Many F1 drivers have stared danger in the face, but few moments in the sport’s…
Carroll Shelby was born on this day in 1923, and while the great Texan is…