“I Still Take Pain for Him”: Felipe Massa’s Title Loss to Lewis Hamilton Stings Martin Brundle to This Day

Lewis Hamilton and dramatic title fight conclusions — it’s a story that wasn’t first written in 2021, and it hasn’t always gone against the Briton. In 2008, driving for McLaren, he won his maiden world championship in arguably the most thrilling fashion — one that is still talked about today.

Felipe Massa had already crossed the finish line in first in the Sao Paulo season finale. And those in the Ferrari garage had begun celebrating the win. However, the race was not over.

Hamilton was chasing Timo Glock, who was in fifth, and a late slip-up by the German allowed him to pass. Finishing in fifth, Hamilton secured just enough points to edge out Massa in the championship standings. It was heartbreak for Massa and the tens of thousands at Interlagos who were rooting for their countryman to win.

If asked to pick one race the he could watch over and over again, Martin Brundle would pick Brazil 2008. But the fact that Massa lost out on the crown that day, will always sting him.

“That extraordinary race where all things happened. It looked like Felipe had won the world championship, which I still take pain for him…” the former F1 driver said in a Sky Sports interview with Naomi Schiff.

“That sort of 30 seconds where he, his family, and the team thought they’d won the world championship — Lewis coming through, poor old Timo, who was on slicks on a wet track and got blamed for it by a lot of people…” he added.

Hamilton did nothing outside of the rulebook. He capitalized on an opportunity at Glock’s expense which helped him become the undisputed best in F1 that year.

Massa, however, still feels that his loss was unfair. Not because of Hamilton’s last-gasp triumph but because of something that happened three races ago.

Massa working hard to make the 2008 championship his

2008 was a controversial season. Fernando Alonso, who was done with dueling with Hamilton on the same team, had left McLaren to rejoin Renault. However, internal politics at the Enstone-based team led to the infamous Crashgate scandal.

At the Singapore GP that year, Massa was leading the race when Nelson Piquet Jr., driving the other Renault, crashed into the barriers — an incident initially seen as an unfortunate mistake. It cost Massa the race lead and the win eventually.

It was later revealed that Team Principal Flavio Briatore had instructed Piquet to crash intentionally to help Alonso win the race. While the Spaniard was not at fault, Briatore got banned for his involvement in the whole saga while Massa felt cheated as he lost crucial points that could’ve made him a world champion.

In 2023, ex-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted that he was aware of Briatore’s doings in the immediate aftermath of the incident. But neither he, nor then FIA boss Max Mosely took any action.

Since then, Massa has been determined to nullify the results of that race. If the points from Singapore were excluded, he would be the world champion. So far, he hasn’t had any success in court, but his fight continues.

The Brazilian driver has demanded either the 2008 title be awarded to him or compensation of $80 million, which he believes is the amount he lost by not becoming champion.