2008 F1 title, Felipe Massa insists: “There were penalties for Spy Story, why not in this case?”. Felipe Massa on the controversies of the 2008 F1 season.

No step back
Felipe Massa doesn’t want to surrender. Despite the slim chances of success, despite 15 years having passed since the contested events, and despite many considering his quest for justice almost a whim, the 42-year-old Brazilian from São Paulo seems determined to forge ahead in his search for a legal foothold to challenge the awarding of the 2008 world championship title to his rival Lewis Hamilton. The positions on the field are already known as Felipe Massa’s battle has been ongoing for months: what the former Ferrari driver demands is the nullification of the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which was directly affected by the Crashgate scandal.

Bernie Ecclestone’s words
Without the allocation of those points, the final championship victory in the 2008 Formula 1 season would not have gone to Stevenage but to Brazil. Felipe Massa’s battle began following the statements made by English business magnate Bernie Ecclestone, the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, who admitted that he and then-FIA President Max Mosley were aware of the Crashgate incident long before the summer of 2009 when the case exploded with the Piquet family’s complaint.

They attempted to cover it up to avoid a controversy of that magnitude erupting during the ongoing season. The incident would have further harmed the credibility of Formula 1.

“Stolen” race
Speaking to the Brazilian outlet Esportelandia, Felipe Massa reiterated his accusations against the system, emphasizing that in other circumstances and in other sports, it has already happened to retroactively modify the standings of a championship. “I’m not a lawyer,” said Felipe Massa, who turned to a group of legal experts to seek justice. “But everyone knows that I have suffered an obvious injustice. I believe I am right and have the right to fight for justice. It’s not like an engine broke, no. There was a race that was stolen, manipulated, which is a very serious matter. Of course, there was also an engine failure,” he added, reflecting on his retirement a few laps before the end of the Hungarian Grand Prix that year when he was leading the race, “but that’s part of it.”

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The precedent of 2007
“This was manipulation,” Felipe Massa added, doubling down on his claims. “The final part of the race was completely different from what it should have been.” The former Ferrari driver also recalled precedents in Formula 1 for similar acts of unfairness, such as the one involving McLaren in 2007 with the infamous Spy Story: “In 2007, when McLaren took Ferrari’s project and copied their car, they were disqualified from the championship. They were punished for what happened. In my case, there was no punishment. But in football and many other sports, when things like this happened, penalties were given and the results were changed.” – the former Scuderia Ferrari man concluded.