Felipe Massa admits Ferrari have yet to back him in 'CRASHGATE' title fight

Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix — Photo: © LAT Images

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Massa makes huge revelation about 'CRASHGATE' title fight

The Brazilian is still trying to claim a world championship that he believes was taken from him unfairly

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 5 September 2023 08:57 Updated: 13:07

Felipe Massa has called upon his old Ferrari team to help him, as he attempts to claim the 2008 world championship through the courts – admitting they're yet to weigh in on his side.

Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 drivers' championship in his second season in F1 with McLaren, claiming the title by just one point from Massa, but the legitimacy of his win has been called into question.

The Brazilian's case is that the 'Crashgate' controversy, where Renault driver Nelson Piquet purposely crashed his car at the Singapore Grand Prix in order to let team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race, was covered up by senior F1 officials – and that he would have won the title without that cover-up.

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His case was spurred into life when former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone said earlier this year that he and then FIA president Max Mosley had known about Piquet and Renault's wrongdoing long before the matter came to light, but decided to do nothing in order to protect the sport from a scandal.

Had the investigation been started at that time, the result of the Singapore GP would likely have been nullified, which would had led to Massa winning the title by five points.

Massa has recently started legal proceedings against F1 officials and the governing body FIA, alleging that a 'conspiracy' denied him the championship.

Now, Massa has called on Ferrari to help him win the title, insisting it is just as much their loss as it is his.

"I have one certainty: that title is mine and it is Ferrari's 16th drivers' title," he told TG1 TV programme.

"I have hired a team of very strong lawyers. We will fight to the end to obtain justice in this sport. I don't understand why a case of manipulation cannot be verified in the way right, even if a year, two years or 15 years later.

"At this moment I have not yet had the support of Ferrari, but I expect help from them. I am optimistic: I will fight for the justice until the end."

What happened in 'Crashgate'?

Lewis Hamilton went on to win the 2008 title, the first of his seven world championships

Massa had been leading the Singapore race in 2008, whilst Alonso was down the order. Having pitted for tyres just before Piquet's crash, Alonso didn't need to go into the pits under the safety car, whilst most other drivers did.

That promoted Alonso up into the race lead, having started 15th, and he went on to win the race, with Hamilton finishing in third. Massa himself finished 12th after a slow pit stop.

It was only when Piquet was dropped from the Renault team following the 2009 Hungarian GP that the Brazilian decided to come out and tell the world what Renault had asked him to do during F1's first ever night race.

Piquet alleged that he had been asked by the team to deliberately crash to improve the race situation for Alonso, which led to fines and disqualification for the Renault team but, ultimately, the 2008 championship stood as the events only came to light months after the event.

However, Ecclestone's comments that he and Mosley knew about it way before Piquet came forward sparked Massa into a fury.