Ex-Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa is pushing on with his legal action to have the results from the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix declared null and void, with the Brazilian believing he was “clearly wronged” by what happened on that controversial day.
It was at the Marina Bay Circuit in 2008 where ‘Crashgate’ was born, after Nelson Piquet Jr. purposefully crashed to help Renault team-mate at the time Fernando Alonso claim victory.
It was a pre-meditated crash; however, it wasn’t until the following year when the situation came to light, with Massa having been told in 2009 that nothing could be done about the result.
Given that Massa lost the 2008 title by just a single point to Lewis Hamilton, had the results from Singapore been removed, then the Brazilian would’ve been declared World Champion.
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There is no doubting that the race was manipulated, with Massa having recently decided to “go after justice” once again.
“I was totally wronged by what happened that year, in a stolen race. This made me go after justice,” Massa told told Esportelandia.
“I’m not a lawyer, but everyone knows, I was clearly wronged and I think justice is part of our fight to get what happened right.”
Massa decided to gather a legal team to investigate the case after former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone revealed recently to F1-Insider.com that he knew about ‘Crashgate’ before it was announced by the FIA and the World Motor Sport Council.
This has understandably infuriated Massa, who wants to see “justice”.
Massa wants to see the sport treat the matter like the ‘Spygate’ incident from 2007, where McLaren were disqualified for copying Ferrari.
The Brazilian also believes that had a similar incident occurred in a different sport, then action would’ve been taken.
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“Like in 2007, when McLaren took Ferrari’s project, copied the car and they were disqualified from the championship, they were punished for a situation,” Massa said.
“In this case [from 2008], there was no punishment. In football and other sports, many things happened, where the results were corrected.”
If the results from the Singapore GP are overturned, then Massa would be crowned as champion, meaning Hamilton would return to being a six-time World Champion, leaving Michael Schumacher as the only driver to have won seven titles.