Felipe Massa launched a lawsuit at London’s High Court on Monday against Formula One, its governing body the FIA and the sport’s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone, Lewis Hamilton’s first The Formula One World Championship is the subject of legal action.
Massa believes he is the rightful winner of the 2008 title, which he lost to Hamilton by a single point.
Renault ordered Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash another car at the Singapore Grand Prix, giving Fernando Alonso the win. Ferrari’s Felipe Felipe Massa was in the lead at the time of Piquet’s smash and finished 13th, but lost the title in the final round in Brazil.
Piquet revealed the following season that he had been instructed to crash intentionally. However, Ecclestone, who was in charge of F1 for four decades before being ousted in 2017, said last year that the sport’s top brass were aware of the cover-up before the end of the 2008 campaign.
Lawyers representing Massa want the FIA to admit it breached rules by “failing to promptly investigate” Piquet’s crash and seek compensation for Massa.
Brazilian law firm Vieira Rezende Advogados said: “On March 11, 2024, Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit at the High Court in London against Formula 1 Management Limited (FOM), Bernard Charles Ecclestone and International Automotive The federation filed a lawsuit (FIA).
“Mr Massa is seeking a declaration that the FIA breached its rules by failing to investigate Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in a timely manner, which if acted upon would have seen Mr Massa win the Drivers’ Championship that year.
Mr Massa is also seeking compensation for the significant financial losses he suffered as a result of the FIA’s failure, in which Mr Ecclestone and FOM were also complicit. Attempts to find an amicable solution were unsuccessful and Mr Massa had no choice but to initiate legal action. “
Hamilton, who has won a record-equal seven titles, said last September: “If this is the direction Felipe wants to go, that’s his decision.
“I don’t want to focus on the past. Whether it was 15 years ago, two years ago or three days ago, I’m only interested in the present.”
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Ecclestone said on Monday: “If he had asked me, I would have said that it is absolutely the right thing to do to prosecute and let British judges decide what is right and wrong. I cannot say anything about the outcome and what will happen.
“I don’t have any clues and I don’t think anyone does, but from his point of view it would be better for a British judge to rule. That would help him more.”
