Felipe Massa: “We must hope that the truth comes out” about the crashgate
Felipe Massa opened up about his lawsuit filed earlier this year against the FIA, the FOM, and Bernie Ecclestone. The Brazilian talks about his fight against the 2008 crashgate, feeling wronged after the comments made by the former F1 boss.
16 years ago, Lewis Hamilton won his first world title after a grueling championship. The Briton’s fifth place in the last race of the season in Brazil, secured in the final corner, allowed him to clinch his first crown, one point ahead of Felipe Massa.
The Brazilian’s regrets go back earlier in the season. In Singapore, Nelson Piquet Jr. hit a wall which led to a safety car deployment. His teammate at Renault, Fernando Alonso, who had started 15th, benefited from an early pit stop to win the race. In stark contrast, Felipe Massa, who was leading before the Renault driver’s crash, Ferrari missed its pit stop and the Brazilian fell to 15th place.
Renault admitted to cheating in September 2009, dismissing Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds. Felipe Massa has accused the FIA, the FOM, and Bernie Ecclestone, who was then the head of F1, of not taking direct action when they had the means to do so. Sixteen years after the incident, Massa decided to sue the three parties last March.
Ecclestone’s statements as a trigger
Having arrived in F1 in 2002, the Brazilian driver had no championship titles when he retired in 2017. He decided to turn to the justice system after the remarks of Bernie Ecclestone for F1-Insider in 2023:
« We had enough information in time to investigate this case. According to the regulations, we should have canceled the Singapore race in these conditions. This means that it would never have taken place to determine the championship standings. And it’s Felipe Massa who would have become World Champion, not Lewis Hamilton. »
The former Ferrari driver felt aggrieved by this statement. « When we heard Bernie’s comment last year, we started to put things in place and began to fight, to analyze things in a professional and legal manner because it was not part of the sport,” he said in an interview with RacingNews365.
An expensive trial
Felipe Massa regrets the turn of events. “I never thought I would be part of such a situation in my life,” he said. “It’s not easy. It’s also very expensive, a lot of money, so I really hope things will end quickly.”
If it is difficult to see Lewis Hamilton’s first of seven titles be revoked, Massa still hopes to be compensated for having suffered the consequences of this crashgate: « We have been waiting for justice for so long, we must hope that the truth comes to light and that justice is served. » A verdict that would be synonymous with recognition for Felipe Massa, who came so close to the grail.
