Lewis Hamilton F1 2008 title trial: Felipe Massa has 'real prospect of succeeding on all grounds'

Massa in the Imola paddock in 2022 — Photo: © IMAGO

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Felipe Massa has 'real prospect of succeeding on all grounds' in Lewis Hamilton F1 title trial

Massa was in court in London on Wednesday

Chris Deeley Editor

Experienced sports writer covering F1 and other motorsports since 2023

Thursday 30 October 2025 08:58

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Felipe Massa's court representative has claimed that the former Ferrari driver has a 'real prospect' of winning his court case against F1, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone.

Nick De Marco KC was arguing on Wednesday for the case not to be thrown out of court, which lawyers for the defendants filed for.

The former Ferrari man is suing for around £60m in damages from the defendants over the claim that they conspired to deny him what would have been his first and only world championship when covering up the 'Crashgate' scandal of 2008.

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Massa is suing for breach of contract or duty, with his lawyers arguing that Ecclestone knew that Nelson Piquet Jr. had crashed deliberately in Singapore, as he intimated in a 2023 interview, and that he and the FIA failed to conduct a proper investigation until Piquet Jr. himself revealed the truth of the crash the following year.

In the event, Massa lost the championship by a single point to Lewis Hamilton, an outcome which would have been very different if – as has been claimed – the 'manipulated' Singapore race was struck from the history books.

Defence lawyers bid for Massa case to be thrown out

Ecclestone's lawyer called the case 'a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship'.

He continued: “Mr Massa argues that, but for the FIA’s handling of the crash, he would have won the drivers’ championship.

“These declarations treat the court as a sports ‘debating club’, asking it to embark upon a counterfactual exercise concerning the ‘refereeing’ of a sporting event which took place nearly 17 years ago.”

Arguing that the case should not be thrown out, and should go to a full trial, Massa's lawyer De Marco said in written submissions that the defending parties 'cannot establish that Mr Massa’s claims have no real prospect of success'.

He added: “Mr Massa has a real prospect of succeeding on all of the grounds.”

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