Felipe Massa continues his relentless pursuit to reclaim the 2008 title that he believes should be rightfully his, considering the circumstances in which Lewis Hamilton won the championship. The Briton beat the Brazilian to the title by just one point following a massive scandal that took place. The scandal is infamously known as ‘Crashgate‘ as the Renault team ordered Nelson Piquet jr to deliberately crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to gift teammate Fernando Alonso the win. Since Massa was leading the race until that point, he explained in a recent interview with The Athletic about how he feels cheated.
Massa has already brought about a group of lawyers to correct the ‘wrong‘ that took place over a decade ago. The 42-year-old is keen to seek justice because he believes it “is the correct thing to do” for the good of the sport.
Furthermore, Massa also believes that the punishments the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) gave to the guilty parties were “b******t“. He made these remarks after the Renault team received only a suspended disqualification.
Felipe Massa walks past Nelson Piquet Jr (who was part of the 2008 Crashgate scandal) as Massa is reportedly taking legal action into the outcome of the title that year #F1 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/LdSU2bfGtK
— Motorsport Week (@MotorsportWeek) May 7, 2023
This meant that the French outfit would only be suspended if they were deemed guilty of a similar offense until 2011. Meanwhile, then-Renault team managing director Flavio Briatore was banned indefinitely. Also, then-team director of engineering, Pat Simmons, received a five-year ban. However, both bans were later overturned in court because of irregularities.
Why is Felipe Massa so keen on wanting justice?
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Felipe Massa opened up on the pain he has gone through after losing the 2008 title in arguably the most controversial of circumstances. When asked if he is fighting to cancel the result of the 2008 Singapore GP, the 42-year-old replied, “This is what we are fighting for. This is (why) we get together a group of lawyers to fight because this is the correct thing to do“.
The Brazilian then added that he is confident that he has a strong case that he can win. “We are pretty confident (in) the situation. We will fight them to the end because it was not correct. It was not fair for the sport“, he explained.
Massa also went on to slam a rule he believes is completely “unacceptable“. F1 has a rule that does not allow for a change in results after the end-of-the-season awards ceremony. Speaking of the rule, the former Ferrari driver said, “This is a completely unacceptable rule. I don’t know who made that rule, to be honest“.
These are the reasons why Massa believes that his fight isn’t just for himself but for the good of F1. “How many people are big fans of Formula One, you know? And I am a big fan, as well. So I’m doing that because I think this is the correct thing to do for the integrity of the sport,” he explained.
While Massa continues his relentless pursuit to seek justice, Lewis Hamilton does not seem too concerned about the same. The Mercedes driver stated that his sole focus is to help Mercedes return back to the top and not to worry about what took place 15 years ago.
Lewis Hamilton claims he has a “bad memory“
In a recent interview, Lewis Hamilton claimed that he has a “bad memory” and does not remember what took place between himself and Felipe Massa 15 years ago. Since F1 cannot change the champion from 2008, the only realistic thing that Massa can now fight for is financial compensation.
The Brazilian is keen on seeking nearly $13,000,000 in compensation. The report from The Athletic adds that a decision will be made on the same by the end of this month.
