Ferrari’s Mammoth Blunder Cost Felipe Massa 2008 Title Not Crashgate

The infamous Crashgate scandal has begun to make headlines again after a few new revelations came to the light. The driver, Felipe Massa, who got affected the most by the scandal is looking for ways to take legal action after the new disclosures. These legal actions could also overturn Lewis Hamilton’s first championship title that he bagged in the 2008 season.

It is said that the outcomes of the scandal cost Massa a chance at his title. But a report by The Race has revealed that Ferrari too played a crucial role in pushing that title away combined with Crashgate.

In the heat of the race and chaos that night in Singapore, the Italian giants made a big blunder that led Massa into serving a penalty.

Example of #Ferrari being its own enemy:
So Massa was given the ‘go’ signal while the fuel hose was still attached to his car in ’08 Singapore. The unsafe release got him a drive-through penalty becoming a factor other than #crashgate that lost him a chance at the title pic.twitter.com/IJFsmpZyPd

— Gaudium (@smrddhjswl) April 16, 2023

What blunder did Ferrari make?

In 2008, the rules suggested that in the case of a safety car, until all the cars had been bunched up behind the safety car, the pitlane would remain closed. Hence taking away the advantage from the leading cars before they pit.

Furthermore, when they return to the track from the pit, they’d join the rest of the grid at the back of the field. At the 2008 Singapore GP, Ferrari was in a hurry to get Massa out of the pitlane as his teammate Kimi Raikkonen lined up right behind him and the team was losing time.

In the chaos, Ferrari gave the ‘go’ signal to Massa, only to realize later that the fuel hose was still attached to his car. The team ordered the Brazillian driver to stop but by that time Massa had already reached the end of the pitlane.

He had to be pushed back to remove the hose which left him at the back of the field, The FIA also combined this bad lunch with drive-through penalty for unsafe release.

How Crashgate played a role in Massa’s title loss?

For years, the onus of orchestrating the scandal has been held by Renault F1 team’s Flavio Briatore, technical director Pat Symonds, and driver Nelson Piquet Jr. At the time it was found that Piquet Jr had deliberately crashed his car at the 2008 Singapore GP profiting only one other driver on the grid, his teammate Fernando Alonso.

As a result of the crash, the safety car was deployed on the track. Alonso had pitted just before the safety car and so except him, all the other drivers took the opportunity to take a stop. The events that took place behind the safety car moved Alonso to the lead of the race and he ultimately won the race.

Meanwhile, the drivers pitting for the championship title Lewis Hamilton finished 3rd and Felipe Massa could not even place his car in the points. Massa’s loss of points cost him the championship title at his home race in Brazil.