Ex-Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone has sensationally claimed that Felipe Massa is only taking legal action against F1 and the FIA “for the money”, something the former supremo insists Lewis Hamilton could also do.
Massa is taking legal action against F1 and the FIA over the 2008 World Championship, which he feels he should’ve won, not Hamilton.
The ex-Ferrari driver has put together a team of lawyers to insist that the results from the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix are cancelled, something which would make him World Champion.
It was at Singapore where the ‘Crashgate’ incident occurred, where Renault told Nelson Piquet Jr. to purposefully crash to allow Fernando Alonso to win the race.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Renault did manipulate the results, something which wasn’t discovered and announced to the world until a year later.
However, Ecclestone is quoted recently as having said that himself and ex-FIA president Max Mosley knew about the incident before the end of 2008 yet chose to say nothing for the sake of the sport.
Massa believes that Ecclestone’s quotes are evidence that he should’ve won the title and is therefore wanting the results overturned and is demanding compensation for the prize money he never received.
Staggeringly, the Brazilian’s lawyers have called upon Hamilton and Ferrari for support, with preservation notices having also been sent to several teams yesterday.
The notices inform teams that any evidence or relative documents cannot be destroyed.
In general, the FIA have declared a season as complete once the prize ceremony takes place, something which has stopped Massa from previously pursuing legal action.
However, Ecclestone’s comments have made him take the action anyway.
Whilst Massa’s team have insisted that they’re taking the action for the integrity of the sport, Ecclestone is certain that it’s happening purely for financial reasons, with the ex-F1 CEO believing that there isn’t a chance that it’ll be successful.
READ: Sky F1 pundit opens up on harrowing incident
“The Massa clan is only in it for the money. But the chances of that are zero,” Ecclestone told Swiss newspaper Blick.
Ecclestone went onto say that if Hamilton wanted to he could’ve filed a lawsuit against the FIA in regard to the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, where he lost an unprecedented eighth title due to ex-race director Michael Masi breaking multiple rules.
“Lawsuits against the FIA could have been filed by Hamilton with Mercedes after the not very clean 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi,” Ecclestone insisted.