F1 News
Remarkable: Felipe Massa not against Hamilton's win, instead vs his loss
- Ludo van Denderen
Felipe Massa has filed a lawsuit against the FIA, FOM and Bernie Ecclestone. His end goal? To get a lot of money because the Brazilian believes he wrongly missed out on the Formula 1 world title in 2008. According to the Brazilian, the defendants already knew at the time that Nelson Piquet junior deliberately crashed his Renault into the wall during the Singapore Grand Prix to create an advantage for teammate Fernando Alonso. The latter won the race.
Lewis Hamilton became world champion in 2008, partially thanks in part to points he earned in Singapore. For a long time, however, Massa was convinced that this race should not have counted for the championship. In that case, not Hamilton but Massa would have been the champion. In recent months, the Brazilian has been exploring his legal options to still claim the 2008 championship.
Meanwhile, Massa has thus taken the FIA, FOM and then F1 owner Ecclestone to court in London. The court documents - which Motorsport. com has seen - reveal that Massa has suffered damages of $81 million for not being declared 2008 champion. For that, the Brazilian wants to be compensated.
Hamilton remains 2008 champion
What Massa is not going to try is to be named 2008 world champion. So he resigns himself to the fact that Hamilton is and remains champion. This may have something to do with the fact that in the FIA's statutes, there is no way to take away or award a championship once the cup has been awarded.