Ferrari glory era mechanic openly declares Felipe Massa as the 2008 World Champion amid potential legal dispute

Gino Rosato, the former mechanic of the Ferrari F1 team, has declared that Felipe Massa is the 2008 F1 World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton. According to Rosato, what happened in 2008 was unfortunate. Moreover, since the news of Massa looking at legal options has gone viral, Rostao has also jumped on the bandwagon and, through his Instagram story revealed that Felipe Massa is the deserving Champion of the 2008 F1 season.

Gino Rosato, despite not being at Ferrari anymore, still carries the love for the team on his shoulders every day and feels it would be justice served if Massa is crowned as 2008 F1 World Champion. While discussing the same via his Instagram story, he wrote, “Felipe Massa 2008 F1 World Champion!! Would be fair and well deserved, for Ferrari, Brazil, and Felipe.”

The former Ferrari mechanic has made it known that, according to him, Felipe Massa is the Champion of the 2008 season and not the Brackley-based team’s star driver, Lewis Hamilton. In 2008, the battle for the Championship went down to the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix. Moreover, when Massa crossed the chequered flag, it was believed that the title was in the Brazilian’s pocket.

But despite all the efforts of Massa, Lewis Hamilton was ultimately able to secure the title, as he only needed a P5 finish for it. In the end, the Ferrari driver lost out to the Brit by just one point in the 2008 World Championship. It was an extremely hard pill to swallow for Massa and all of the Tifosi who was watching the race with the hope of seeing Massa as the Champion.

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The Singapore Grand Prix of 2008 was a key moment in Felipe Massa’s title challenge

While many people believe that the 2008 Brazilian GP was where Felipe Massa lost out on the 2008 F1 World Championship, not many are aware that it was at the Singapore GP where the title really slipped out of the hands of the Brazilian. At the event, Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed, and this gave his teammate, Fernando Alonso, a huge advantage over the others.

The Spaniard had pitted just before the crash, and when the other cars came into the pits under the safety car, Ferrari botched Massa’s pitstop as one of the team’s mechanics forgot to remove the fuel hose on his car. This cost the Brazilian a lot of time, and when he entered the track once again, he dropped down to P13 from P3. Moreover, to add further misery to his outing, Lewis Hamilton ended up in P3 in that race.

The combination of the Ferrari pitstop and Nelson Piquet’s crash is believed to be the reason for Massa losing out on the Championship, as in the end, Massa lost out to Lewis Hamilton only by one point. Considering all the shenanigans that took place at the 2008 Singapore GP, does Felipe Massa have a strong case against Lewis Hamilton?

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