Felipe Massa is not letting go of the 2008 Formula 1 championship fight just yet, as the former Ferrari driver lost that year’s title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point and is taking on the FIA, Formula One Management, and Bernie Ecclestone in a £64 million legal battle.
His claim is that the F1’s top figures knew about the infamous “Crashgate” scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and had deliberately covered it up.
The 2008 Controversy Involving Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton
Massa’s name will always be linked to the 2008 season as the year he lost the world title to Hamilton by just one point. The heartbreak came at his home race in Brazil, where for a few seconds it looked like he had done enough to become champion, only for the Briton to grab the title on the final lap.
However, the real storm began earlier that year at the Singapore Grand Prix, where Massa had been leading comfortably when Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed his Renault into the wall, which brought out the safety car and completely changed the race’s outcome.
Piquet’s teammate, Fernando Alonso, went on to win the race, while Massa’s race fell apart after a disastrous pit stop left him driving off with a fuel hose still attached, and he finished a miserable 13th, losing out on crucial points.
More than 15 years later, it was revealed that Piquet’s crash was no accident and, in fact, Renault had ordered it to help Alonso win the race. The scandal was later known as “Crashgate,” which shook Formula 1, but what fuelled Massa’s current claim was his belief that the people in charge back then, including Ecclestone and former FIA president Max Mosley, knew about it and decided to keep it under wraps.
Massa’s Legal Push for Justice That Could Change History
Massa is now suing the FIA, Formula One Management, and Ecclestone for £64 million by saying that the “cover-up” cost him the world title, along with sponsorship money and lost career opportunities. Massa’s lawyer, Nick De Marco KC didn’t hold back in court either and accused F1’s top figures of “deliberately concealing” one of the sport’s biggest scandals.
He argued that the Singapore incident was not just about race manipulation but about endangering lives and damaging the integrity of the sport.
“The first point is that it is no exaggeration to say the deliberate crash was one of the most serious incidents of sport manipulation in world sport, not only because it was a blatant attempt to intervene in the race, but the deliberate act threatened the life of spectators and the driver himself,” De Marco said.
Massa’s legal team also pointed to an interview Ecclestone gave in 2023, where he allegedly admitted to knowing about the crash’s true cause during the 2008 season but didn’t act to avoid controversy. He later claimed that he couldn’t remember making those comments, but for Massa’s team, that was enough to push forward with their case.
On the other side, the FIA and Formula One Management are trying to shut the claim down as their lawyers argue that Hamilton simply drove better that year and that no single race could decide the title outcome. “The simple fact is that over the course of both the Singapore Grand Prix and across the 2008 season, Mr Hamilton outperformed Mr Massa,” said FOM’s lawyer, Anneliese Day KC.
Massa Waiting for What Comes Next
Massa attended the hearing in person and is asking for damages along with an acknowledgment from the FIA that it broke its own rules, and if he wins, it could open up one of the most remarkable chapters in Formula 1 history, but for now, he’ll have to wait.
After a three-day pre-trial hearing, Judge Jay said that a decision will come at a later date, and whether the case moves to a full trial or gets dismissed remains to be seen.
