Former Formula One driver Felipe Massa mentioned on March 11, 2024, that he filed a lawsuit in a London courtroom in opposition to auto racing’s governing physique FIA, collection proprietor Formula One Management (FOM) and Bernie Ecclestone amid his try to say the 2008 title.
| Photo Credit: AP
Former driver Felipe Massa mentioned he’s filed a lawsuit in London in opposition to auto racing governing physique the FIA, collection proprietor Formula One Management and Bernie Ecclestone to attempt and declare the 2008 title.
Massa added on Monday he was additionally in search of a minimal of $82 million in damages, a doc obtained by The Associated Press confirmed. That quantity included prize cash he misplaced and different potential offers he would have obtained as a F1 champion.
Massa has claimed since final yr he was the “rightful” 2008 champion as a result of the incident generally known as “Crashgate.”
The 42-year-old Brazilian, who by no means gained the drivers’ championship, was runner-up to Lewis Hamilton by one level.
Former Ferrari and Williams driver Massa mentioned in an announcement his case can be heard at the King’s Bench Division of the High Court.
His resolution got here after months of preparatory steps that included his attorneys asking auto racing our bodies to answer to his public allegations of a breach of contract.
“I always said I was going to fight until the end,” Massa mentioned in the assertion.
“Since the FIA and FOM decided not to do anything, we will seek to right this historical injustice in court. The matter is now for our lawyers and they are fully authorised to do whatever is necessary so justice in sport is served.”
His allegations relate to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the place Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed intentionally to assist then-Renault teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.
The Renault workforce was ultimately punished however the outcomes stood in the fifteenth race of 18 that yr. Massa by no means bought nearer to the title.
Last yr, former F1 boss Ecclestone mentioned in an interview with web site F1 Insider that he discovered by means of the course of 2008 that Piquet Jr. crashed intentionally. He added he selected to not examine the incident till the season ended, when it was too late to vary the standings.
Piquet Jr.’s crash got here when Massa was in entrance in Singapore. A security automotive was introduced in, which squandered his lead and gave Alonso a transparent benefit as he was the solely driver who had already made a pit cease to refuel.
Massa went on to complete out of the factors in thirteenth place after a calamitous pit cease, whereas Hamilton completed third in that race.
Massa’s submitting mentioned he desires “a declaration that the FIA acted in breach of its own regulations in failing to investigate the circumstances of the crash promptly in 2008” and “a declaration that if the FIA had not acted in breach of its own regulations, it would have cancelled or adjusted the results of the Singapore Grand Prix with the consequence that Mr Massa would have won the drivers’ championship in 2008.
“The defendants’ actions brought about vital monetary loss to the claimant,” the document added.
News about the race-fixing scandal involving Piquet Jr. emerged the following year.
The driver’s filing also said the FIA’s failure to promptly investigate Crashgate “constituted a most severe type of wrongdoing.”
Ecclestone told the British Press Association he agreed the case should go to court.
“If he had requested me, I might have mentioned it was the full proper factor to do, to sue, and to let an English decide resolve what is true and incorrect,” Ecclestone said.
“I can’t say something about the end result and what’s going to occur. From his perspective, it’s higher that an English decide comes up with a verdict. It will likely be of extra assist for him.”
The FIA told the AP it will not comment.
The AP has also asked FOM for comment.
Massa said in an interview with the AP in August that he had more evidence of wrongdoing to support his case. He also said then that he was considering filing other cases related to the same incident in other countries.
Massa was met with silence in the paddock at the last Brazilian Grand Prix, as his case against the FIA and FOM loomed. At the time, he claimed he had a final deadline of Nov. 15 to get answers from auto racing bodies before taking any action against them.
“Many drivers do help me on this, however they do not need to communicate. I do not remorse any of this, justice is an even bigger good right here,” he said then.
Jean Todt, a former team principal at Ferrari during Massa’s tenure and an ex-president of the FIA, said in an interview with Italian newspaper “La Stampa” in December that he additionally believed the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix ought to have been cancelled as a result of Crashgate.
