Lewis Hamilton has had a quite complicated relationship with Ferrari fans as of late. A few months ago, long before the Briton extended his contract with Mercedes, it was rumored that Ferrari was willing to pay a huge sum of money to recruit Hamilton, only to be rejected by him. Now, months later, as per F1 reporter Tobi Gruner, Ferrari fans have turned out in support of their hero Felipe Massa in regards to the 2008 championship controversy that has been making the headlines as of late.
Massa is of the belief that he was robbed of the 2008 World Championship due to the incompetence of the FIA. The Brazilian believes that the organizers should have taken better measures and canceled the Singapore GP that year because they already knew about the Crashgate scandal. The Former Ferrari driver has now gone ahead to seek $13,000,000 from the FIA and F1 for the reputational damage that was caused to him.
🚨 | Felipe Massa wants the FIA to “fix the situation” of Singapore 2008:
“It was manipulation… A very serious situation like corruption, like manipulation.
“That is not the correct thing for the sport.”
— formularacers (@formularacers_) August 24, 2023
Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 World Championship on the last race of the season and Massa lost out by just one point. It was the first of Hamilton’s seven titles, but now that the Mercedes driver is heading to Monza – the home of the Tifosi- it turns out that there are some Ferrari fans who are actually backing their ex driver Massa in his legal battle.
Ferrari fans believe that Massa is the true 2008 World Champion
The Italian GP weekend kicked off on Friday with the cars taking to the track for the first two free practice sessions. However, something off caught the attention of many. A huge banner in support of Felipe Massa was spotted during the two sessions.
Ferrari fans already know the outcome of that pending legal battle. #AMuS #F1 #ItalianGP pic.twitter.com/qa4ponH7T2
— Tobi Grüner 🏁 (@tgruener) August 31, 2023
As per a tweet by F1 journalist Tobi Gruner, the banner reads in Italian- ‘Felipe Massa. Campione del Mondo 2008‘ which translates to “Felipe Massa. 2008 World Champion.” Gruner mentioned that it was almost as if the Ferrari fans already know the outcome of the legal battle between Massa and the FIA and F1.
However, despite receiving support from a few fans, Massa hasn’t really received much support from the F1 community as a whole regarding his recent antics.
Felipe Massa is destroying is his legacy
One of the people who spoke out against Massa is F1 journalist Joe Saward. He claimed that Massa is just tainting his legacy with his desperate actions. The ex – Ferrari man is seemingly doing irreparable damage to his image according to Saward.
Saward explained that Massa had been crowned a hero on the day of his title defeat. It was a crowning moment of sportsmanship for Massa, even though he had lost out on the championship. As per Saward, all of that is being destroyed now that Massa is acting desperate to overturn everything that went against him that day.
