Felipe Massa ‘cheated’ out of F1 2008 title as fresh $82m legal case details emerge

Felipe Massa’s legal representative has claimed that the Ferrari driver was “cheated” out of the 2008 F1 title, accusing the sport’s authorities of “deliberate concealment” of the true circumstances of the Crashgate scandal.

Massa is contesting the outcome of the 2008 world championship, with the former F1 driver’s long-awaited legal case beginning at the High Court in London this week.

Felipe Massa seeking $82million in damages over F1 2008 title defeat

Massa, who is seeking up to $82million (£60m/€68.7m) in damages, famously missed out on the 2008 title to Lewis Hamilton, then of McLaren, by a single point at the final race of the season in Brazil.

The title decider in Massa’s hometown of Sao Paulo came just weeks after the Singapore Grand Prix, the scene of the infamous Crashgate scandal, where Renault instructed its driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash deliberately in order to help teammate Fernando Alonso to victory.

Massa, who was leading the race at the time of Piquet’s accident, went on to finish a distant 13th in Singapore, with the lost points proving costly in his title battle with Hamilton.

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Massa announced his intention to take legal proceedings against the FIA, Formula 1’s commercial arm Formula One Management and former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone – all of whom deny the claims – in 2023.

It came hot on the heels after an interview Ecclestone gave to German publication F1 Insider, in which he revealed that he and then-FIA president Max Mosley, who died in 2021, were made aware of the true circumstances behind the Singapore Grand Prix scandal during the 2008 season.

Mr Ecclestone went on to admit the sport’s authorities opted to take no action at the time to protect F1 from “a huge scandal”, expressing his sympathy that Massa was “cheated out of the title he deserved.”

In a pre-trial hearing, Nick de Marco KC, representing Massa, claimed that F1’s authorities “deliberately conspired together” to conceal the truth of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

As reported by the Times, he said: “The deliberate crash constituted one of the biggest sporting scandals in history.

“It’s what then follows, the deliberate concealment of the conspiracy to have a crash, the deliberate concealment by those responsible for protecting the integrity of the sport, the highest officials and those organisations represented by all the defendants today, deliberately conspiring together to cover up one of the most serious scandals in the history of sport.

“That is the focus of Mr Massa’s claim.”

Lawyers for the FIA, FOM and Mr Ecclestone argue that Massa’s claim should be dismissed and that the time window to challenge the outcome of the 2008 world championship has expired.

However, De Marco has claimed that Mr Ecclestone’s 2023 interview was the first time that the full extent of the alleged cover up emerged.

He said: “That interview was the first time it became apparent to Mr Massa, and those advising him, that there had been a deliberate concealment of a conspiracy that was known at the time by those who had concealed it.

“The defendants are very eager to prevent the court from examining their serious wrongdoing, that is the conspiracy they were involved in to conceal this.

“It is understandable that they are very keen to stop the court examining this.

“They have managed to prevent a real examination of it for 15 years, until Mr Ecclestone finally gave his interview.”

De Marco also referred to Mr Ecclestone’s comment that Massa was “cheated” out of the 2008 title, adding: “If what Mr Ecclestone says is right, he [Massa] was cheated by Mr Ecclestone and Mr Mosley out of it.”

The latest details surrounding Massa’s case come after Ecclestone’s legal representative, David Quest, argued that Massa had “performed very poorly” by finishing 13th in the controversial Singapore Grand Prix.

In written submissions, Quest said Massa’s claims “are a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship” and would “deprive Mr Hamilton of his 2008 title” despite the British driver being “equally exposed to the crash” in Singapore.

John Mehrzad KC, representing the FIA, described Massa’s legal challenge as “as torturous as it is overly ambitious” and said it “conspicuously overlooks a catalogue of his own errors” in 2008.

The case continues.

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