Felipe Massa revealed so that is seeking legal recourse to annul the result of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, which was won by Lewis Hamilton. The Brazilian driver, then driving for Ferrari, lost that year’s title by a single point in dramatic circumstances during the final race in Brazil. Hamilton, who was driving for McLaren at the time, got the point he needed to consecrate himself in the rain and on the last lap.
However, former F1 leader Bernie Ecclestone made new statements about the infamous scandal of “Crashgate” that year in Singapore, which encouraged Massa to assess all his possible options as to whether the Championship result could be annulled, 15 years later.
Massa, now 41, stated: “I intend to study the situation, to study what the laws and the rules say. We have to have an idea of what is possible to do.”
What was Crashgate?
“Crashgate” rocked the sport when the Singapore Grand Prix saw Renault’s Fernando Alonso win the race before it emerged that his teammate Nelson Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed to bring out a safety car which gave the Spaniard the lead.
said safety car caused a pit stop by Massa which Ferrari mishandled. Massa finally finished the race in 13th place, while Hamilton finished in third; a six-point difference, but a change that ultimately affected the title outcome.
Yes ok Renault and team boss Flavio Briatore were punished in 2009, the race result stood despite Massa’s protests. The FIA (Federation Internationale Automobile) statutes made it clear that voiding each season’s classification is impossible once the FIA prize-giving ceremony for that year is complete, a rule laid down in the International Sporting Code of the same.
Ecclestone’s new revelations about the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix
However, Ecclestone revealed last month that both he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew about the “Crashgate” scandal in 2008, but refused to publish the chain of events to prevent the sport from becoming a ” big scandal.”
“We decided to do nothing at the moment,” Ecclestone told F1-Insider. “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a big scandal.. That is why I used angelic tongues to persuade my ex-driver Nelson Piquet to keep his cool.”
“Back then, there was a rule that a world championship ranking after the FIA award ceremony at the end of the year was untouchable. Then Hamilton received the trophy and everything was fine, ”he said.
“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have canceled the race in Singapore under these conditions”, added Ecclestone and completed: “It means that it would never have happened for the championship classification. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.
Felipe Massa’s reaction
Upon learning of this new information, Massa told Motorsport.com that he will look into his, albeit limited, legal recourse; he singled out the example of Lance Armstrong’s doping and the stripping of his Tour de France victories.
“There is a rule that establishes that when a championship is decided, from the moment the driver receives the championship trophy, things cannot be changed, even if a theft is proven,” said Massa, who ultimately did not win a championship. F1 world title.
“At that time, the Ferrari lawyers spoke to me about this rule. We consulted other lawyers and the answer was that nothing could be done. So logically I believed in the situation, ”he explained.
“But after 15 years, we hear that the former owner of the series says that he found out about it when it happened in 2008, together with the FIA president, and they did nothing to not tarnish the name of F1,” Massa said.
“It’s very sad, knowing that the result of this race was supposed to be canceled and I would have a title. In the end, it was me who lost the most with this result. So, let’s explore to understand it all”, he added. He also said that “We have already seen other situations in the sport, such as Lance Armstrong, who was shown to have doped and lost all the titles. What is the difference?”.
Massa, who has not spoken to Ferrari about possible legal avenues, added that taking any retrospective action would not be a matter of financial compensation, but simply “justice.”
“There are rules, and there are many things that, depending on the country, you cannot go back after 15 years to resolve a situation,” he said. “I would never go after it from a financial perspective. She would look for him thinking about justice. I think that if you were punished for something that was not your fault, and it is the product of a robbery, of a fixed race, justice must be done. In fact, the correct measure is to cancel the result of that race. It is the only justice that can be done in a case like this, ”he said.
Despite Massa’s comments, his options seem slim, as the FIA’s own International Sporting Code states that protests and reviews are due 14 days after a competition and four days before the award ceremony of that event. anus.
You also cannot use the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport), which has no jurisdiction over the FIA in matters like this, with the independent International Court of Appeal being the highest authority in sport.
From The Independent to Page 12