Felipe Massa took the FIA and F1 15 years back to the 2008 season to instigate a thorough investigation into the Crashgate scandal. This particular scandal seemingly made him lose the world championship to Lewis Hamilton. While Massa filed a lawsuit on it, he recently claimed that it has nothing to do with Hamilton, as per Globo Esporte.
The British driver broke the hearts of Brazilian fans and of course, Massa at Interlagos in 2008. He did this as he overtook Jarno Trulli of Toyota right at the last corner and snatched the championship from the Brazilian driver. As the Brazilian driver lost the last championship by just a point, everything went back to the fateful race in Singapore that year.
Renault, the team that orchestrated the Crashgate scandal was banned after Nelson Piquet Jr. opened up about it a year later. Following this, the FIA banned the French team, but on the other hand, the result of the Singapore GP was not canceled. Had it been canceled, Massa had enough points to win the 2008 world championship.
With Massa talking about what happened 15 years ago, , Hamilton too, shared his thoughts on the same. He said that he does not want to think about what happened 15 years ago but wants to focus on the present. However, the former Ferrari star also clarified that he has got nothing against the seven-time world champion.
Massa made his stance clear on Lewis Hamilton
After former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently revealed that Massa was cheated out of the championship back in 2008, Massa began his legal fight. In doing so, he also cleared the air by stating that the $10 million battle is not against the Mercedes driver.
Talking about this, the Brazilian former driver said, “I have nothing against Hamilton. The fight is about a rigged race. Someone paid the price for it and it was me.”
He then added, “In the end, nobody was punished for what happened. They were banned. But after two years Pat Symonds came back. And Briatore, who was going to be banned for life, came back as well. Nothing happened to the team.” However, there is not much the former Ferrari star can do even if he is trying his very best.
Felipe Massa might have to return empty-handed
Massa filed the lawsuit but he will have to arrange a ton of evidence before he can think of salvaging something. Furthermore, Max Mosley, the former FIA President is no more and Ecclestone recently denied making any comments on Massa.
Furthermore, there is no such rule in the FIA rulebook that will reverse the decision and take the championship away from Lewis Hamilton to give it to Felipe Massa.
All in all, except for the 42-year-old, no other party or person is looking to be interested in helping him. Massa is fighting this battle completely alone. As things stand, its very likely that he will return from this battle empty handed.
