The three biggest Formula 1 scandals in the last three decades are undoubtedly the McLaren spy story against Ferrari, the never-forgotten secret and illegal tests by Mercedes in Barcelona, and the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. We’ll focus on the latter because it resurfaced in recent days after the news spread, then confirmed, that Felipe Massa has initiated formal proceedings to seek justice and, if not the world title, which I believe is impossible, at least a substantial compensation.
Let’s go in order. The story is masterfully summarized by the magazine Post.it: “Singapore 2008 is remembered for being the first race held on the Singapore Street Circuit, the first-ever night race in the history of the sport, and for being particularly chaotic due to a controversial incident involving Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jr. of Renault, which led to a series of consequences resulting in the victory of his teammate Fernando Alonso.
That result was decisive for the final standings of the 2008 World Championship, the first won by Lewis Hamilton, who at the time raced for McLaren and finished just one point ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa of Ferrari. Hamilton finished third in Singapore (earning 6 points), while Massa, who was leading before the incident, finished the race in thirteenth place (and didn’t earn any points).”
But what emerged later was that Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed, on his team’s orders, to favor teammate Alonso. Massa’s placement was directly linked to the aftermath of that incident, and now, following new developments in the case, the driver has initiated legal proceedings to seek justice. He claims to have been “the victim of a conspiracy committed by individuals at the top of Formula 1,” to have lost tens of millions of euros due to the injustice suffered, and essentially to be the rightful champion of the 2008 drivers’ title.
The fact that Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed became known the following year: initially, he claimed it was an unintentional accident, but then his father – a three-time Formula 1 champion in the 1980s – and later he himself revealed that there had been a clear order from Flavio Briatore, Renault’s team manager, and engineer Pat Symonds. A subsequent investigation by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) confirmed that it had indeed happened this way, and penalties and suspensions were imposed on Renault, Briatore, and Symonds, which were later overturned.
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The matter ended with settlements, and Symonds and Briatore were banned from Formula 1 until 2013 (both had already left Renault). However, Massa now contests how the matter was resolved, as there were no interventions on the result of the Grand Prix and thus not on the final championship result. […] Alonso was the first to pit, and at that time – which remained the case until the following year – the cars were still refueled during pit stops.
A few laps later, Piquet crashed into the wall at a spot on the track where it was very difficult to remove the car debris. The Safety Car was deployed, staying on the track for several laps, precisely at a time when the cars needed to refuel. As soon as the pit lane reopened – at that time, cars couldn’t enter the pits under the Safety Car – all the cars stopped together, including Massa’s. However, due to a mistake by the mechanics, he was given the green light before refueling was completed, and he left with the fuel hose still attached to the car. Chaos ensued, and Massa rejoined the race at the back of the field, receiving an additional penalty.
Fernando Alonso, who had already made his pit stop, found himself in fifth place, and as the drivers in front of him also pitted, he gained the lead, which he easily maintained. Hamilton finished third behind Nico Rosberg, while Felipe Massa’s compromised race ended in thirteenth place. In the subsequent Grand Prix in Japan, Felipe Massa finished seventh and Hamilton twelfth, but in the race after that, in China, Hamilton won, finishing just ahead of the Ferrari man.
It all came down to the last race in Brazil: Felipe Massa won the race, but on the final corner of the last lap, Hamilton overtook Toyota’s Timo Glock to finish fifth, earning 4 points and ending the season one point ahead of the Brazilian. He became the youngest winner of a Formula 1 World Championship, at the age of 23.
After Piquet’s statements and the investigation, it became clear to everyone that the staged crash had distorted the race, but the FIA decided not to intervene in the result of the Grand Prix. Moreover, it was concluded that Alonso was unaware of the order given by his team to his teammate. Regarding Piquet, he never raced in Formula 1 again after 2009. And they all lived happily ever after, except Massa? Not quite.
Ferrari/Massa: Ecclestone’s revelations
This was the state of affairs until Bernie Ecclestone, the elder statesman of F1, made surprising revelations on the web platform F1-Insider (although these shouldn’t be shocking to those familiar with the world of F1). He stated that he and Mosley (then FIA president) were aware of Piquet Jr.’s orchestrated crash but decided not to interfere to avoid a scandal. The incriminating quotes: “According to the regulations, we should have canceled the Singapore race under these conditions. It means it wouldn’t have counted for the world championship. So Massa would have become champion, not Lewis Hamilton.” Ecclestone later told Reuters that he doesn’t remember saying those things.
To me, this forgetfulness doesn’t seem so much related to senility (I assure you, Bernie still has enviable lucidity today) as it does to “diplomacy.” In any case, there’s no doubt that Ecclestone uttered those words, and connecting the dots with other statements made over the years, he indeed believes that Hamilton didn’t deserve that title. However, we must consider three other things.
First: Hamilton, of course, was completely unaware of the orchestrated incident in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and benefited from the final standings. It’s not his fault. Second: Alonso was cleared of all accusations. He benefited from winning the Grand Prix, but he didn’t know about the plot. Third: Ferrari lost that championship due to its own shortcomings in a chaotic season.
It’s likely that in the end, the FIA will have to come to an agreement with Massa for a substantial compensation. Much more improbable, verging on impossible, is the possibility of revising the standings by canceling just that one Grand Prix – the only scenario in which Massa could be declared world champion. Motorsport writes that Massa could turn to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which, however, doesn’t have jurisdiction over FIA matters in this regard.
It’s also true that entering the realm of sports law is one path, while ordinary law is another. It’s a matter for experts, as you can imagine. We know well that Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, then Ferrari president, and Stefano Domenicali, then Scuderia Team Principal, decided not to engage in any legal battle and didn’t raise their voices too much. The margins were minimal anyway.
Meanwhile, Felipe Massa should first take issue with himself for not speaking up back then, and with them (and in part, he does so implicitly when interviewed). On the other hand, a journalist should pose a simple question to Luca di Montezemolo and Stefano Domenicali: once you learned about the mess in Singapore in 2009, why didn’t you do anything? We await curiously for some sports journalist to ask the fateful question to get an interesting response. Hoping we don’t have to wait another 15 years in the meantime.
Source: Mariano Froldi for FUnoanalisitecnica
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