Former Scuderia Ferrari diver Felipe Massa has decided to intensify his actions and investigations in terms of the legality of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship, as confirmed by the International media on Monday.
Despite the fact that 15 years have passed since that thrilling and controversial end to the 2008 Formula 1 championship, when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won his first Formula 1 title after an overtaking move on the final corner of the last lap in Brazil, Felipe Massa is continuing his efforts of asking for clarifications regarding the validity of the title given the events which took place that year in the Singapore Grand Prix, after the recently publicised statements made by ex-Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.
Since the events in the well-known ‘crashgate’ moment became clear for everyone, as Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr intentionally crashed his car on the indications of Flavio Briatore, with the goal of helping the other Renault car of Fernando Alonso take victory in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, former Ferrari man Felipe Massa has pointed out that this event had a clear importance in the outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 title, which was eventually won by Lewis Hamilton.
The incident led to the Safety Car being deployed on track: the Maranello team called Felipe Massa in for a pit stop, but an issue with the Scuderia’s pit release system meant the Brazilian race ended after spraying fuel up the pitlane. Lewis Hamilton finished the race in third place, winning valuable points against his title-rival.
Given the fact that most of the details regarding the event were made public only long after the end of the 2008 Formula 1 championship, until recently there wasn’t any hope of challenging the final results of the race which was geld at the newly built Marina Bay Street Circuit in Marina Bay.
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Yet Bernie Ecclestone has recently admitted that both he and former FIA President Max Mosley were very much aware of what happened in Singapore even at that moment and revealed that they intentionally wanted to kept this a secret with the goal of “protecting the sport”, aware that an investigation in 2008 would have affected the outcome of the title battle.
When the events of the crashgate scandal were revealed, Felipe Massa asked for the results of the race to be cancelled, but the FIA replied that it was not possible due to the current regulations and statutes.
Felipe Massa ‘assembles team of lawyers’
Bernie Ecclestone’s recent comments regarding how he deliberately covered-up the scandal have determined Felipe Massa to pursue legal actions: the Brazilian announced that he would continue to evaluate the possible options and with this in mind he has now put together a team of lawyers who have been given the task of thoroughly investigating the case and what actions can be taken to change the outcome of that race.
According to Motorsport, the former Ferrari driver will now no longer be making public statements on this matter until the final direction for the legal action is reached. Nelson Piquet Jr has since confirmed he was forced to crash his car, pointing out that he was “treated like a dog” by the team management.
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