Felipe Massa could turn to legal action to obtain that controversial 2008 title which he lost due to the accident deliberately caused by Nelson Piquet Jr. Let’s see what chance he has
April 4, 2023
I2023 is only a third but the controversies that are storming the F1 they are already many. In addition to those involving the 100th title of Alonso in Saudi Arabia, the restarts desired by the FIA in Australia and the legal consequences for racial slurs of Piquet against Hamilton, Pandora’s path now seems open and it seems that the actions of the past can once again influence the present. Felipe Massa, fifteen years after losing the title at the hands of Piquet against the then very young Lewis Hamilton, would be ready to resort to legal action to right the wrong suffered.
It was the year 2008 and the GP in Singapore resulted in the defeat of Felipe Massa and the first historic crowning of a very young F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton are McLaren in its first full season. Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately caused an accident which allowed the entry of the Safety Car, which helped Piquet’s teammate in RenaultFernando Alonsoto win the race. The Safety Car itself was guilty of having mistakenly made Massa return to the Ferrari pits. The Brazilian, world leader, finished the race in thirteenth position, handing the championship into the hands of Hamilton, who won by just one point more.
In 2009, the so-called “Crashgate” emerged, revealing the punishment to the boss of Renault Flavio Briatore and the chief technician Pat Symonds for their involvement in that very unsporting incident.
Massa F1 World Champion? Maybe it’s a little too late
“I intend to study the situation. I want to get an idea of what’s possible,” says Massa. However, the Brazilian has decided to take matters into his own hands with a really important delay and the chances that this regret will come true are slim.
Il FIA’s international sporting code states that protests can no longer be lodged after a race and all rights expire 14 calendar days from the race in question and four days before the FIA prize-giving ceremony for that Grand Prix season. The “expiry date” has largely passed and it must also be taken into account that the highest authority in possession of the decision-making power is the International Court of Appealas affirmed by the FIA judicial system, to which every person present in the Championship agrees to submit, leaving Massa with no alternative courts to turn to.
The only thing that could be done would be to contact the THATor the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which however has no jurisdiction over the FIA as regards these cases, as it has power only with regard to anti-doping issues.
And, in any case, its usefulness escapes if not for the pride of Massato go and change an important page of sport, which would eliminate Hamilton’s first title and his record of having equaled Schumacher fifteen years after the fact. And if in fourteen years Lewis did the same with the first title of Verstappen won ad Abu Dhabi 2022 for a hotly contested decision?
15 years after ‘Crashgate’, what can be done?
Massa today, fifteen years after that moment, he would like to take legal action to become F1 World Champion. But why now?
The former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone recently stated that at the time both he and the FIA President of that period Max Mosley were aware of the whole incident but hadn’t taken a stand to “safeguard the sport from a huge scandal”. Massa remembered that in 2008 Ferrari’s lawyers had informed him of a strict rule.
“There is a rule that concerns the moment in which a championship is decided, – recalls the Brazilian, – you can appeal until the pilot receives the title of “Champion”. After that, nothing more can be done. Even if there’s been a theft.”
In 2008, the former Ferrari driver and the lawyers had tried to move without being able to change things. To date, however, Massa is more ready than ever to do something, even if it won’t be easy after fifteen years.
