Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One in London’s High Court on Monday looking for damages for lacking out on the 2008 world championship title.
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Brazilian Massa, 42, lost out to Lewis Hamilton by only a single level in a season the place the game was rocked by the “crashgate” scandal on the Singapore Grand Prix.
Renault staged a win for Fernando Alonso by ordering Nelson Piquet jnr to crash of their different automobile.
Ferrari’s Massa, main on the time of Piquet’s smash, completed thirteenth, earlier than shedding the championship by the best of margins.
Piquet revealed the next season that he was below instruction by his bosses to intentionally crash.
Massa has additionally introduced proceedings against governing physique the FIA, and the game’s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
He is reportedly looking for £62 million ($80 million) in damages to replicate the distinction in wage, in addition to sponsorship and industrial alternatives he would have obtained as a world champion.
Ecclestone confessed in an interview final 12 months that in accordance with the foundations, the outcomes from Singapore race mustn’t have stood for the championship standings and in consequence, Massa would have been declared champion.
Felipe Massa didn’t win one other F1 race after 2008
“Mr. Massa is seeking declarations that the FIA breached its regulations by failing to promptly investigate Nelson Piquet Junior’s crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and that had it acted properly, Mr. Massa would have won the drivers’ championship that year,” mentioned a press release from Massa’s legal professionals.
“Mr. Massa also seeks damages for the significant financial loss he has suffered due to the FIA’s failure, in which Mr. Ecclestone and FOM (Formula One Management) were also complicit.”
The 2008 title was Hamilton’s first world championship and he has since gone on to match Michael Schumacher’s file of seven world drivers’ titles.
“If that’s the direction that Felipe wants to go, that’s his decision. I prefer not to focus on the past,” mentioned Hamilton when quizzed on the matter final September.
Massa didn’t win one other F1 race after 2008 and suffered a near-fatal head damage on the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
However, he returned to the game and continued racing with Ferrari after which Williams till 2017.
By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
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