Reports indicate that Felipe Massa has increased his efforts to examine the legitimacy of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship.
Massa, who was Hamilton’s former Ferrari rival, is seeking to question the validity of the championship results 15 years after Hamilton’s initial victory. This comes after former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone made new public comments regarding the issue. Since the “crashgate” scandal came to light in 2009, Massa has attributed his loss of the 2008 championship to Hamilton to this event.
The crash caused a Safety Car to be deployed, resulting in a poorly executed pit stop for Massa, who finished outside of the points, while Hamilton came in third. The details of the scandal were not revealed until after the 2008 season ended, making it impossible to contest the results at the time.
Nonetheless, Ecclestone recently admitted that he and former FIA President Max Mosley had been aware of the incident and kept it hidden to “protect the sport,” as an investigation in 2008 would have affected the championship outcome. Massa had previously called for the cancellation of the 2008 Singapore GP results when the scandal was exposed, but the sport’s regulations did not allow for this.
After Ecclestone’s recent comments about the cover-up, Massa declared that he would be examining the matter and evaluating his legal alternatives.
Motorsport.com reports that Massa has now gathered a group of lawyers who are actively investigating the case in greater depth. Additionally, the article mentions that Massa has decided to no longer make public statements regarding the issue.
Piquet has commented on the event, revealing that he felt he was mistreated by the Renault team during that tumultuous period.
