Emerson Fittipaldi skeptical of Felipe Massa’s chances to overturn Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 title

Emerson Fittipaldi isn't particularly optimistic about his compatriot Felipe Massa's chances of overturning Lewis Hamilton's 2008 title result.

Emerson Fittipaldi skeptical of Felipe Massa’s chances to overturn Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 title

Emerson Fittipaldi (L) | Felipe Massa (R)

Felipe Massa has previously expressed his intention of challenging the outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 title. Back then, he had lost to Lewis Hamilton – by a single point. A crucial moment in the championship came in Singapore, where the Brazilian driver qualified on pole but finished P13, due to a botched pit-stop, after Nelson Piquet Jr.’s crash. Later, it came out that this was a deliberate crash, but at the time, the result was thought to have been sealed in stone.

This was because the results of the championship cannot be changed after the FIA Awards Ceremony. But sometime back, Bernie Ecclestone revealed that he, and then FIA President, Max Mosley knew about the allegations of the ‘deliberate crash’ in 2008. However, they decided not to act in order to protect the sport from a scandal. Massa wanted to explore whether this can be used to overturn the result of the 2008 championship.

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Recently, there has been an update on this front. Now, according to Motorsport.com, the Brazilian has assembled a team of lawyers to investigate the matter in more detail. But it must be said: It’s highly unlikely that the result will be overturned. Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time Formula 1 world champion, supports his compatriot’s plea but is skeptical of his chances of success.

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When quizzed by Mirror Sport on the situation, Fittipaldi said: “I think who started this was Bernie Ecclestone. Typical Bernie! Bernie wanted to create a polemic and this polemic that he’s creating, it’s just to generate some news. I would love if Felipe would be world champion, being Brazilian, for sure.” Indeed, Ecclestone is known for his provocative, and often, controversial statements.

Read More: Felipe Massa takes the next step to reclaim the 2008 F1 title from Lewis Hamilton, assembles a team of lawyers for his legal battle

Emerson Fittipaldi is “100 percent pro Felipe Massa”

Felipe Massa (L) | Emerson Fittipaldi (R)
Felipe Massa (L) | Emerson Fittipaldi (R)

Emerson Fittipaldi was there in Interlagos during the 2008 season finale. Giving his account of the dramatic final laps, he said: “I was in Interlagos that year inside the McLaren pit with Lewis Hamilton. And when Felipe went by only two people, myself and my wife, stood up and screamed. Everybody was quiet. 15 seconds later, everybody stood up and started screaming and I didn’t understand why! But, anyway, that was the day that happened.”

Despite the fact that Nelson Piquet Jr. did crash deliberately, Ferrari did make a glaring error during Felipe Massa’s pit-stop. Fittipaldi acknowledged this: “When you go backwards, in that race [the Singapore GP], Ferrari made a mistake during a pit stop. That means the result of the race would not change a lot. It’s so difficult to reverse that. That’s my personal opinion. I am 100 per cent pro Felipe Massa, for sure.”

It’ll be interesting to see how this works out for Massa. At least on paper, his chances of overturning the result of the 2008 title aren’t great. But they are not zero either, and anything is possible. If this does happen, there may be calls for the FIA to overturn the result of the 2021 championship, in light of the ‘human error’ by race director Michael Masi in the season finale.

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