Felipe Massa asks for Ferrari’s support to overturn Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 Championship triumph
Bernie Ecclestone's claim that he and the then FIA's Max Mosley were aware of the happenings of the Singapore GP, but they didn’t want to intervene to ‘protect’ the motorsport from a major scandal instigated by Massa's legal action.
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Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa (Via IMAGO)
Felipe Massa is readying a legal case against FIA to overturn the 2008 F1 World Drivers championship result. Massa claims the 2008 Singapore GP result should be nullified. The race is infamous for the ‘crashgate’ ‘ controversy. Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr crashed intentionally to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race. If successful, the lawsuit will make him the champion over Lewis Hamilton, who won the title with a one-point margin.
The Brazilian driver has come forth seeking his former team, Ferrari’s support in the case once again. Massa, as reported by Motosport.com, is currently in discussions with his legal team on further proceedings in the case. He confirmed that the team will wait till mid-October for FIA’s response to his legal notice and then will decide whether they’ve to go to a court or tribunal.
Massa said he ‘hoped’ for a better response from Ferrari as they were a team that was wronged by the controversial decision as him. Ferrari has yet to express their opinion or support Massa over his legal pursuit. Massa did confirm that he has the support of people from the F1 community who don’t want to support him publically.
“Some people prefer not to speak out about it. They would rather talk about it privately than in the media; I fully understand that. But that doesn’t change my fight for justice…We lost the championship; they took the championship away from us, from me, and from Ferrari,” Massa said.
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What support did Felipe Massa receive regarding this ‘robbery’ of a championship title
Massa feels that he has enough sport from the fans of the motorsport. He says, “People tell me not to give up,” There was a banner on Monza on the main stand that said Massa was the champion of 2008. This made it clear that fans were on the side of Massa regarding the incident.
Even Mercedes boss Toto Wolff speaks on the title controversy of 2021 due to a late safety car. Massa points out this incident as well and claims that Wolff supports Hamilton regarding the incident. He feels that Ferrari is yet to say that “We’re behind you” to Felipe Massa. But in the end, Massa claims that he is doing it just for justice regardless of the support from Ferrari.
Felipe Massa hopes that this situation will be handled the same way as it would when the roles were reversed between Hamilton and Massa. He felt that he wasn’t looked at in a ‘respectful’ manner back then due to this controversy. And he feels everyone should be respected in the same way in motorsport.
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Justin P Joy
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