Johnny Herbert is convinced that the legal battle undertaken by former Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa‘s lawyers to reclaim the championship lost in 2008 due to the crash gate at the Singapore Grand Prix will have no effect and will not restore the title to him. According to the former British driver, the opportune moment to take legal action should have coincided with Flavio Briatore’s banishment from Formula 1, when it was established that Piquet’s crash was deliberate.
Herbert is certain that Massa’s legal battle won’t return the 2008 championship to him
“In a nutshell, Mr. Massa is the rightful 2008 Drivers’ Champion,” read the letter issued by the lawyers to the federation a few days ago. “F1 and the FIA deliberately overlooked the misconduct that deprived him of the title.”
“Mr. Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage. However, he estimates that they could exceed tens of millions of euros. This amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses suffered by Mr. Massa.”
Speaking to CasinoSite.nl, however, Johnny Herbert doubts that this protest will have any effect: “He won’t be awarded the championship. We know the crash was a deal done with Flavio Briatore and Nelson Piquet Jr. Potentially it cost Felipe a championship. Is it the right way to proceed? I doubt it. He will never be awarded the world championship.”
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“Suing won’t get him the one thing he really wants, the world championship, even if he goes to court. If he ever wanted to do it, he should have done it when Flavio and Piquet were found guilty and kicked out of this sport.” – he pointed out.
Despite Felipe Massa admitting multiple times that he didn’t embark on this battle for financial gain, the chances of overturning the verdict of a championship awarded fifteen years ago remain quite low. However, it will be interesting to see how the FIA will act and whether they will reopen one of the most controversial cases in Formula 1 history.
Source: f1ingenerale
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