Felipe Massa has been in the headlines recently for the lawsuit that he filed against the FIA and F1 in order to get back his 2008 F1 title. He lost that year’s championship to Lewis Hamilton by just a point, something that could have been avoided if the sport acted against the Crashgate scandal. Amidst all this, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, whose team has been following this case closely, came up with a new connection to the 2021 F1 title, as per RaceFans.
Massa started the case after Bernie Ecclestone’s admission to the knowledge of wrongdoing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which is popularly known as the Crashgate scandal. In doing so, he brought the global motorsport media’s limelight on him.
Now, Toto Wolff has decided to indirectly make himself and his team a part of this. The Mercedes boss, therefore, found an insane link to back Hamilton up and bring him his much coveted eighth world championship.
Wolff knows the 2008 verdict can bring Lewis Hamilton’s prize from 2021
With Massa bringing up a 15-year-old scandal in order to suit his needs, Wolff too decided to reignite the conversation surrounding the controversial 2021 season finale. This was the race where Lewis Hamilton lost to Verstappen due to a controversial call by then F1 race director Michael Masi.
Talking about this, the Austrian boss said, “This is clearly not something that anybody saw coming. The rules are pretty clear in Formula 1. If there’s a civil case behind it, it would certainly set a precedent, whatever it is. We are looking from the sidelines with curiosity.”
So far, Massa has the considerably weaker hand in his battle against the system. Furthermore, experts believe that the case does not stand any chance since the laws of the FIA do not allow any changes to an event after 14 days.
How much has Felipe Massa’s lawsuit progressed?
As things stand, Felipe Massa is still hopeful with the lawsuit he filed against the FIA and F1. He believes he can extract the $13 million compensation because he lost the championship due to unfair means.
Furthermore, Massa’s lawyers now have approached Lewis Hamilton for assistance. The Brazilian driver and his set of lawyers are of the opinion that the seven-time world champion should come out in support of the former.
Nevertheless, the lawsuit might also be a cause of concern for the former Ferrari star. If he cannot prove the worth of the case, he might have to face seven years of jail time or pay a sum of $1 million as an additional pay.
