Jean Todt supports Massa in his legal procedure regarding the 2008 title

Jean Todt supports his former driver in search of justice. In 2008, Felipe Massa, driving for Ferrari, was competing against Lewis Hamilton and his McLaren-Mercedes for the world title. During the final race of that season, held at Interlagos circuit, the British driver had a seven-point lead over the Brazilian.

At the end of the 71 laps of the race, Felipe Massa crosses the finish line as the winner, and the Ferrari team jumps for joy, thinking they have won the driver’s championship for a second consecutive year. But on the last lap, Hamilton snatches fifth place from the Toyota driver Timo Glock and wins the first of his seven F1 titles, by just one point ahead of Massa.

The Brazilian is in tears as he steps onto the highest step of the podium, in front of his home crowd. Thank you again to everyone. « I am so proud to be part of this team, thank you », Felipe Massa said on the radio after the race.

The ”crashgate” affair of the Singapore Grand Prix

Singapore was the 15th round of this 2008 season. The city-state was making its debut in Formula One and hosting a night Grand Prix, an unprecedented event at the time. In the Asian night, Massa finished outside the points, while Hamilton secured a third place.

This race is now known as the “crashgate” because of the cheating by the Renault team. At that time, the pit lane was closed when a safety car was on the track. Nelson Piquet Jr, son of the triple Brazilian world champion Nelson Piquet, crashes into the wall of the street circuit just moments after his teammate Fernando Alonso had made a pit stop.

The double Spanish world champion won the race. But a year later, following accusations from the Piquet clan, Renault F1 Team was found guilty of cheating. Flavio Briatore, the director of the French team, had asked his Brazilian driver to crash in order to cause a safety car period and help Alonso win the race. Bernie Ecclestone’s recent statements, who is also the owner of the economic rights of Formula 1, admitted that the highest authorities in the sport were aware of the cheating, without cancelling the race result.

Massa’s lawsuit

The former Ferrari driver has the feeling that he was ‘robbed’ of the 2008 title and has announced that he will launch legal proceedings. He argues that if the FIA and the FOM were aware of the cheating, the outcome of that Grand Prix should have been annulled. If that were the case, Lewis Hamilton would lose his podium finish and therefore the title he won by just one point.

In his fight, Massa has the support of Jean Todt, his former team boss. For the Frenchman, the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix should be erased from the history of F1. « I won’t get into the controversy, but it was very tough for him psychologically. Perhaps we could have been tougher when the story came out, but there is no doubt that the Singapore Grand Prix was rigged and should have been cancelled », said the former president of the FIA to the Italian newspaper La Stampa.