Former F1 driver and current Stock Car racer, Massa, remains embroiled in a dispute over the outcome of the season that crowned Hamilton champion, following Piquet Jr’s intentional crash at the 2008 Singapore GP.
After several months of anticipation, Felipe Massa formally initiated legal action on Monday at the High Court of Justice in London against the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and Formula One Management (FOM), as well as against the former president of the category, Bernie Ecclestone.
The lawsuit questions the outcome of the 2008 F1 championship, particularly the failure to annul the 2008 Singapore GP. The former driver awaited the response to a letter he sent to the entities in August 2023, which was necessary to formalize the process.
“I always said that I would fight until the end. As the FIA and FOM decided not to do anything, we will seek the correction of this historical injustice in the courts. The matter is now with the lawyers and they are fully authorized to do whatever is necessary for justice in the sport to be done” stated the former F1 driver.
According to Lauro Jardim’s blog in “O Globo,” Massa is reportedly seeking compensation ranging from £64 million to £150 million in both lawsuits, equivalent to approximately R$400 million to R$960 million.
Furthermore, the former Ferrari driver also wants the FIA to acknowledge that it violated its regulations by not investigating Nelson Piquet Jr’s crash and that, had it analyzed the incident during the season, the Brazilian would have been the champion.
Without scoring points, Massa lost the title to Lewis Hamilton by just one point. The case only became public knowledge in 2009, at the Hungarian GP. At that time, the sporting regulations of F1 only allowed the contestation of results until the FIA awards ceremony, held in December of each year.
However, Ecclestone revealed in early 2023 that he knew about Piquet Jr’s intentional crash in 2008, which could have allowed a review of the race. The Briton justified that F1 and the FIA remained silent to protect the integrity of the sport.
The Brazilian then initiated his legal process by filing a letter, which, according to the rules of the UK Justice system, must precede any lawsuit.
In it, the FIA and FOM are portrayed as conspirators, harming Massa due to the Singapore scandal in sports, moral, and financial aspects, with him also suffering an estimated loss of tens of millions of euros.
The deadline for a response to Massa’s letter was extended last October. The FIA and F1 justified, at the time, that they could not respond due to the category’s summer break in August.
During this period, Massa’s lawyers even sent preservation notices to Ferrari, Renault (now called Alpine), sponsor ING, and former Renault managers Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds, and Steve Nielsen, who were involved in the case.
The request formally asks the summoned parties to make efforts to prevent the destruction or modification of documents related to the case that could serve as evidence.
Massa recently received support from his friend and former Ferrari boss, Jean Todt. Also a former president of the FIA from 2009 to 2021, the Frenchman advocated for the cancellation of the 2008 Singapore GP and even admitted that the team could have taken a different stance at the time.
A six-time constructors’ champion with Michael Schumacher, Todt led Ferrari from 1994 to 2007, a year before the scandal. However, during the controversy, he was replaced as team principal by Stefano Domenicali, now president of F1, and had already taken on the role of special consultant until 2009.
