Reports suggest that this Tuesday (September 12th), Felipe Massa’s legal team sent a “preservation letter” to all parties involved in the Crashgate case in Singapore 2008.
Flavio Briatore, in fact, served as Renault’s team manager that season. It appears that he was the one who persuaded Nelsinho Piquet to crash into the barriers to help teammate Fernando Alonso secure victory.
Ferrari, on the other hand, has a clear interest in the matter since Felipe Massa was racing for the Scuderia that year. However, they have yet to show their legal support despite previous calls from the Brazilian driver’s lawyers.
It seems, though, that the preservation email was not only sent to Briatore, Renault, and Scuderia Ferrari. There are rumors that it was also received by ING (sponsor of the French team in 2008), Pat Symonds (former sporting director of Renault and current technical director of F1), and Steve Nielsen, the former sporting director of Renault who now holds the same position at the FIA.
For the latter two, working for F1 and FIA respectively, the emails were sent by the institutions themselves. Preservation notices are formal requests to retain documents. In other words, they serve to make the recipient (in this case, Ferrari, Flavio Briatore, Renault, ING, Pat Symonds, and Steve Nielsen) aware of potential legal action so that relevant documents are not destroyed or lost.
We can only wait to see how this latest chapter in the saga will unfold.
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