Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 title under threat as Felipe Massa assesses legal options

Felipe Massa has sensationally revealed he is looking into legal options to overturn the result of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship – won by Lewis Hamilton.

The Brazilian driver, then racing for Ferrari, missed out on that year’s title by a single point in dramatic circumstances at the final race in Brazil as Hamilton – then driving for McLaren - claimed the point he needed on the final lap in wet conditions.

Yet new remarks, by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, on that year’s infamous ‘Crashgate’ scandal in Singapore has encouraged Massa to assess all his potential options as to whether the Championship result could be overturned, 15 years on.

Massa, now 41, stated: “I intend to study the situation, study what the laws say and the rules. We have to have an idea of what is possible to do.”

Crashgate rocked the sport when the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix saw Renault’s Fernando Alonso win the race before it emerged that his team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed to bring out a safety car which played into Alonso’s hands.

That safety car prompted a Massa pit stop that Ferrari mishandled, with Massa eventually finishing the race 13^th while Hamilton came home third – a difference of six points, a swing which ultimately impacted the title result.

While Renault and team boss Flavio Briatore were punished in 2009, the result of the race stood despite Massa’s protestations, with the FIA’s statues making clear that overturning the classification from each season is impossible once the FIA Awards Ceremony for that year is complete, a rule set in the FIA International Sporting Code.

However, Ecclestone revealed last month that both he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew of the Crashgate scandal in 2008, but refused to publicise the chain of events to avoid the sport a “huge scandal.”

“We decided not to do anything for now,” Ecclestone told F1-Insider. “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. That’s why I used angelic tongues to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep calm for the time being.

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“Back then, there was a rule that a world championship classification after the FIA ​​awards ceremony at the end of the year was untouchable. So Hamilton was presented with the trophy and everything was fine.

“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.

“That means it would never have happened for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”

Upon hearing this new information come to light, Massa told Motorsport.com that he will look into his – albeit slim – legal options, noting the example of Lance Armstrong’s doping revelations and the stripping of his Tour de France victories.

“There is a rule that says that when a championship is decided, from the moment the driver receives the champion’s trophy, things can no longer be changed, even if it has been proven a theft,” Massa, who ultimately did not win an F1 world title, said.

“At the time, Ferrari’s lawyers told me about this rule. We went to other lawyers and the answer was that nothing could be done. So I logically believed in this situation.

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“But after 15 years, we hear that the [former] owner of the category says that he found out in 2008, together with the president of the FIA, and they did nothing [so as] to not tarnish the name of F1.

“This is very sad, to know the result of this race was supposed to be cancelled and I would have a title. In the end, I was the one who lost the most with this result. So, we are going after it to understand all this.

“We have already seen other situations happening in sports, such as Lance Armstrong, who was proven to have doped, and he lost all the titles. What is the difference?”

Massa, who has not spoken to Ferrari about any possible legal avenues, added that pursuing any retrospective action would not be about financial compensation, instead simply “justice.”

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"There are rules, and there are many things that, depending on the country, you cannot go back after 15 years to resolve a situation,” he said.

“I would never go after it thinking financially. I would go after it thinking about justice.

“I think if you’ve been punished for something that wasn’t your fault, and it’s the product of a robbery, a stolen race, justice has to be served.

“In fact, the right situation is to cancel the result of that race. It is the only justice that can be done in a case like this.”

Despite Massa’s comments, his options appear slim, with the FIA’s own International Sporting Code stating protests and reviews expire 14 days after a competition and four days prior to that year’s prize giving ceremony.

He also cannot use the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has no jurisdiction over the FIA on issues like this, with the independent International Court of Appeal the highest authority in the sport.

CAS may only be involved in F1 matters relating to the FIA’s Anti-Doping Disciplinary Committee.

Massa’s best-finish in F1 turned out to be that 2008 season as he retired in 2017 while Hamilton has gone on to win six more titles with Mercedes, holding the joint-record of seven F1 World Championships with Michael Schumacher.