Felipe Massa is sparing no expense in his legal battle to overturn the results of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, a fight that has already placed a considerable financial burden on the former Ferrari driver.
Massa, who lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point that year, is determined to see the outcome reversed in light of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix’s ‘Crashgate’ scandal, which he believes unfairly cost him the title.
The former Ferrari driver and his legal team, led by the Brazilian law firm Vieira Rezende Advogados, filed a lawsuit in London's High Court earlier this year, accusing Formula 1, the FIA, and former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone of failing to investigate a deliberate crash orchestrated by the Renault team and involving Nelson Piquet Jr.
Massa was leading the race when Piquet’s crash triggered a safety car, which strategically benefitted the latter’s Renault teammate, Fernando Alonso, while a disastrous pit stop left Massa a distant 13th at the checkered flag.
This ultimately impacted the championship standings, with Massa narrowly losing the 2008 title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.
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Massa’s legal action was prompted by a public comment by Ecclestone in 2023 in which the former F1 supremo admitted that he, along with then-FIA president Max Mosley and race director Charlie Whiting, knew about the race-fixing scandal during the 2008 season but chose to remain silent to protect the sport.
The former Scuderia driver contends that a thorough investigation at the time would have revealed the wrongdoing and potentially altered the championship outcome.
The eleven-time Grand Prix winner wants the FIA to acknowledge that the governing body breached their own regulations by failing to properly investigate the Singapore Grand Prix crash.
Furthermore, Massa is also seeking damages worth $80 million.
"I hope the correct thing happens, for justice, for something that was not part of the sport that punished me big time," commented the eleven-time Grand Prix winner, speaking to RacingNews365.
"This is what we are fighting for, which I believe is correct, especially after 16 years and on hearing things which you never thought it was really like that.
"After that, I decided to put a big team together, professional people, divided by many different countries. They really believe it was not fair what happened, for the sport, and I definitely paid.
"When we heard Bernie's comment last year, after that we started to put things together, and we started to fight, to analyse things in the professional, legal way because it was not part of the sport."
The legal battle is demanding not only in terms of time but also financially, and the bills are piling up for the Brazilian.
But Massa remains focused on achieving what he feels is long-overdue justice, even though the timeline for a resolution remains uncertain
"I never thought I was going to be part of such a thing in my life," he said. "It's not easy. It's also very expensive, a lot of money, so I really hope things finish soon.
"But we've been waiting so long now for justice, we have to hope the truth comes out and there will be justice."
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