Frederic Vasseur breaks silence on Felipe Massa-Lewis Hamilton dispute over 2008 F1 World Championship
Ferrari Team Boss Frederic Vasseur says he does not believe in revisions even if it is fifteen minutes after the race.
Follow Us
All the recent F1 news has been occupied with Felipe Massa’s lawsuit against the FIA seeking monetary compensation after the F1 World Championship 2008 mess-up. Massa is a Brazilian racing driver who has driven in Formula One for fifteen years. He finished second in the 2008 season, which gave rise to the entire controversy that he is now in the news for. In the 2008 Formula One season, at the Singapore Grand Prix, Felipe Massa failed to secure a race win and could only grab the P2 spot because of a crash.
Nelson Piquet’s car rammed into the sidewalls and this caused the FIA to bring out the safety car. Under the safety car, Massa’s McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso, got his much-needed pit stop at a discounted time interval. When Fernando Alonso came out with his fresh tyres, he ended up winning the Singapore GP, and it affected the entire results in such a way that Lewis Hamilton won the F1 2008 season by 1 point.
Later, it was found that the crash was deliberately planned and recently, ex-FIA chief executive – Bernie Ecclestone said that him and Max Mosely were aware about it. Since then, Massa has sued all the authorities involved in causing him a huge financial and reputational damage due to the loss of the World Championship.
Now, Ferrari’s Team Boss Frederic Vasseur recently broke his silence on the much controversial situation. He said, “I can say that personally, I am not a big fan of revisions, even if it is a matter of changing the results 15 minutes after the race.” He further said, “I have a good relationship with all parties involved.” And thus, he refused to comment any further on this matter.
Related: FIA to conduct urgent investigation into document language after Lewis Hamilton’s complaints
The people involved in the 2008 crashgate that proved destructive for Felipe Massa
In his lawsuit, Felipe Massa has sued a lot of people, one of them being Bernie Ecclestone. The former F1 franchise owner has recently been involved in a lot of controversies, money laundering being one of them. About this incident, Bernie accepted that he had already been aware about the preplanned crash, but later denied that he was involved.
Massa has also sued Max Mosley, the former President of FIA. Amongst the many people named by Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley was also mentioned for being aware about the planned crash.
Out of all the people that would be affected by this law suit, the direst effects will be borne by Lewis Hamilton as there are chances of his 2008 world championship being revoked. This will reduce his seven world championships to six, and once again make Michael Schumacher the driver with the most world championships.
Just like Frederic Vasseur of Ferrari, many other people believe that its not fair to change the results fifteen years after the said controversy. But the opinions are drastically divided with a lot of fans being adamant that Massa should get his well-deserved championship title. Most people in authoritative positions in the FIA are refusing to make a statement because they don’t want to be caught up on the bad side of anybody.
Zak Brown brushes of Lando Norris’ grave criticism of McLaren, claims it just motivates the team
Stay Updated!
Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)