“Lewis won it. That’s racing,” Felipe Massa’s race engineer accepts defeat to Lewis Hamilton amidst lawsuit against F1

Felipe Massa has lodged a lawsuit against F1 and FIA in hopes of overturning the 2008 championship results after 16 years of the incident.

“Lewis won it. That’s racing,” Felipe Massa’s race engineer accepts defeat to Lewis Hamilton amidst lawsuit against F1

Felipe Massa [L] Lewis Hamilton [R] (images via IMAGO)

Felipe Massa has officially lodged a legal lawsuit against F1 and FIA following the 2008 Crashgate scandal. The Brazilian driver aimed to overturn the 2008 Singaporean GP result in his favor, further changing the 2008 championship result. However, amidst the lawsuit, Massa’s former race engineer accepted defeat for the 2008 championship and sided with Lewis Hamilton.

Felipe Massa‘s legal lawsuit also aimed at providing the former world champion with monetary compensation. Rob Smedley asserted that he was a man of the present and didn’t care about the past. Hence, Massa had the freedom to do whatever he wished according to the engineer. Additionally, the ex-Ferrari driver was straightforward in following his wishes with the lawsuit and what he wanted by winning the case. 

I don’t care about what happened yesterday I’m interested in what’s happening today, tomorrow, and how I can affect that. Felipe has been pretty clear that why he wants to do this, he wants to do it for justice as he says and he has the right to be able to pursue that. Good on him if that’s what he wants to do.
Smedley told Formula for Success podcast (H&T: racefans.net).
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The race engineer clearly highlighted that Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 championship fair and square. However, winning the championship would have been a great feat even for Smedley. However, Hamilton winning the championship was the end of it and shouldn’t have been challenged further. Additionally, Smedley claimed that losing the title was part of the sport as the driver with the most points by the season’s end wins the championship.

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My view on it is it would have been great to have won the 2008 world championship in 2008. We didn’t, Lewis won it, and the guy with the most points at the end of the season is the guy who deserves to win it, however those points are accrued, I think. That’s racing.

F1 pundit Matt Bishop claims Felipe Massa wants to gain money from lawsuit

The Brazilian driver had previously asserted how he wasn’t interested in money for the case. However, the 46-year-old is looking at upwards of $160 Million in compensation from F1 and FIA. Hence, F1 pundit Matt Bishop shared his opinion on the entire development throughout the past few days.

Felipe Massa (via imago)
Felipe Massa (via imago)

Bishop asserted how 16 years later, Massa found a quick way to make $100 Million easily. Additionally, the pundit claimed how that he didn’t expect to overturn the results of the 2008 championship. The former champion’s goal with the entire lawsuit was to gain some money from the old case according to Matt Bishop.

We’re talking 16 years later, he’s changed his tune and I think either somebody has said, ‘Here’s a way of getting $100million’ – which is a very tempting inducement – or someone’s got him another way. But I would say that he doesn’t expect to change the result, but he does expect and hope for a few bob.
Bishop said, as reported by planetf1.com.

However, FIA and F1 have not yet shared their side over the entire legal lawsuit against them. Additionally, the governing body would keep the case’s details private until the very last moment. Hence, time will tell about how the lawsuit pans out. Currently, Massa’s main goal is to actively participate in the case and potentially finally overturn the 2008 results.

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