This weekend the Brazilian Grand Prix takes place at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, better known as Interlagos, the usual end-of-season event that often turned out to be decisive in the fight for the Formula 1 world titles. It will not be so this year, but it certainly was the case back in 2008. At the time, Scuderia Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton were fighting each other, with the British driver who eventually managed to dramatically secure the world championship at the end of a race marked by rain and controversy. Controversies that continue today, almost a decade and a half away.
Felipe Massa on the 2008 World championship defeat
14 years after the huge disappointment, a still wounded Felipe Massa returned to talk about the outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 season, underlining that the world championship defeat was not only the result of the controversial final round at Interlagos (with Timo Glock being overtaken in the final moments of the Brazilian Grand Prix by Lewis Hamilton), but above all of another incident that occurred during the championship.
Massa: “What happened in Singapore is unacceptable”
Speaking in an interview for Formule1.nl, the former Scuderia Ferrari driver first of all said: “If the rain had started a minute later, I would have become world champion. But everything happens for a reason … I will never forget that day at Interlagos, I suffered from it for a long time.” – Felipe admitted.
As we have already mentioned, however, the former Ferrari driver believes that he lost the title not in Brazil but in Singapore with the Crashgate scandal (Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix to give a sporting advantage to his Renault teammate, Fernando Alonso).
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In this regard, Felipe Massa said: “What happened there (in Singapore, ed) is unacceptable. The situation can be compared to a football referee paid by one team. If this happens, the other team launches a lawsuit”. Then the controversy: “But this doesn’t happen in Formula 1. Nothing ever happens in Formula 1”.
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