Felipe Massa’s pursuit for the 2008 title, which he feels was unfairly given to Lewis Hamilton could soon come to an end. The verdict, however, will likely not be in his favor, and his $125 million battle for the title and claim for compensation, is set to be dismissed.
In 2008, the infamous Crashgate scandal in Singapore shocked the F1 world. Massa, who retired in that race feels that the result should be nullified, in which case, he will emerge as the champion as he finished just 1 point behind Hamilton. Massa claims that the FIA knew what happened, and still didn’t act in the aftermath. He demanded the title be named his, or be paid a sum of $80 million.
As reported by Speedcafe, however, Massa is expected to lose his legal fight against the governing body of F1. According to the International Court of Appeal’s Article 10.11.1, “The ICA has all the decision-making powers of the authority that took the contested decision.” This means technically, they could have gone against the FIA to cancel the race’s results in Singapore.
Article 10.11.2 further states that the ICA can admit or dismiss the appeal. This includes penalties, race results, and other incidents involving the party that has lodged the appeal. Unfortunately, Article 10.11.3 turned out to be the thorn in Massa’s legal battle. The Article reads,
“The right to protest lies only with a Competitor.”
No competitor protested the result of the 2008 Singapore GP. As a result, the case could never have reached the International Court of Appeal, making Massa’s claim point-less. Massa wasn’t the only driver in the race, and Ferrari wasn’t the only team.
There were other competitors who didn’t complain or appeal, which was a legal challenge for the Brazilian because amending or nulling the race result would impact their performance on the evening too.
Other legal challenges to Felipe Massa’s claim
As Speedcafe mentioned, another challenge affected Felipe Massa’s fight to claim the 2008 world title. He argues that the Crashgate scandal in Singapore lost him the world title. But, the 2008 season comprised 18 races, not 1.
Massa could have lost out on the title, because of any of the other races he did not win. He DNFed at the Hungaroring, Sepang, and Albert Park and had woeful outings in tracks such as Silverstone.
This is why legal action against the FIA will likely not work in his favor. Citing just one race as the reason behind him not winning the title sounds like a ‘simplified complaint’, when he could also blame his team for giving him a car that couldn’t finish races.
There has been no official verdict since Massa started his fight against F1 and FIA. Although an outcome in his favor is unlikely, the former Ferrari driver and his lawyers continue to work hard.
