Former Ferrari F1 driver Felipe Massa reportedly blamed his own mistakes, not the ‘Crashgate’ scandal, for robbing him of the 2008 world title.
Massa’s legal action against F1 management, former F1 manager Bernie Ecclestone and governing body the FIA began at London’s High Court on Wednesday.
According to BBC Sport, on the first day of the three-day hearing, Ecclestone’s lawyer David Quest told the court that Massa had “performed very poorly” at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
The race was controversial after Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed, bringing out the safety car and helping teammate Fernando Alonso win.
Massa took action after Ecclestone admitted in a 2023 F1 Insider interview that he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew Piquet had crashed intentionally, but that they took no action to protect F1’s image.
Quest said the 95-year-old billionaire “does not remember ever giving this interview.” Ecclestone had previously claimed he had been mistranslated.
Massa is seeking £64 million in damages, claiming that had an earlier investigation been carried out, the race would have been canceled and he would have been crowned world champion.
The Brazilian missed out on the 2008 world title by one point to Lewis Hamilton in the final race of the season. The then-McLaren driver overtook Timo Glock at the final corner of the final lap to take fifth place.
Piquet’s crash changed the fate of the 2008 Singapore GP
Massa said his lawsuit would fail.
Quest said Massa’s claims were a “misguided attempt to reinstate the results of the 2008 F1 Drivers’ Championship”.
“Mr Massa claims that if the FIA had dealt with the accident, he would have won the drivers’ championship,” he continued.
“These declarations treat the court as a sporting ‘debate club’ and call for it to engage in counterfactual action regarding ‘officiating’ a sporting event that took place nearly 17 years ago.”
Ecclestone’s lawyers argued that Hamilton was “similarly exposed to accidents”.
John Mehrzad KC, the FIA’s legal representative, said Massa’s legal action was “overly ambitious and torturous” and “clearly overlooks his own numerous mistakes”.
Meanwhile, FOM’s representative, Anneliese Dei KC, said in a written submission that this claim “will fail”.
“In fact, it wasn’t the introduction of the safety car that changed Mr. Massa’s history, but a series of subsequent race mistakes he and his team made with 47 laps left in the race,” she continued.
“The simple fact is that at the Singapore Grand Prix and throughout the 2008 season, Mr. Hamilton outperformed Mr. Massa and others.”