Felipe Massa Is Seeking Cash Payment For ‘Robbed’ 2008 Championship Title

Posted on August 17, 2023 | by Charley Williams It’s been six months since Felipe Massa revealed he was looking into options regarding the authenticity of the 2008 F1 championship outcome. Apparently, some people do hold grudges in this world because despite the season in question happening almost two decades ago, Felipe is still adamant he needs justice… and maybe a good amount of compensation.  Bernie Ecclestone’s comments on the 2008 Singapore GP, where Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed to bring out a safety car and help his Renault teammate, Fernando Alonso, win the race, have really caused a stir ???? The ex-F1 chief was quoted as saying by the F1 Insider website earlier this year that he and then FIA president, Max Mosely, knew of the situation but decided not to do anything to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. Had the race been cancelled like Ecclestone suggested it should have been, it effectively would’ve never happened, meaning no points handed out, and Massa would have become the world champion in 2008 instead of Lewis Hamilton. Now Reuters has revealed that Massa’s lawyers have indeed started legal action against Formula 1 bosses and the governing FIA to seek compensation for the ‘conspiracy’ that denied Felipe the 2008 championship. They’ve reported that a letter addressed to Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem reads: “Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 Driver’s Champion, and F1 and FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title. “Mr Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage but estimates that they are likely to exceed tens of millions of Euros. This amount does not cover the serious moral and repetitional losses suffered by Mr Massa.” Back in May, Felipe told RacingNews365 at the Miami GP that this investigation wasn’t about compensation, saying: “Im not doing this for money. I’m not doing this for anything. Because it’s not what I am to, but I’m going this for the justice. “Not only for me but for my friends, my country, my family, Ferrari and Ferrari fans.” Clearly, he changed his mind ???? Is anything likely to come out of this investigation? Probably not, in sporting terms, at least, we won’t be expecting a title stripped from Lewis. But maybe a little bit of cash will sort this whole thing out. Do you think Massa is right to chase the ‘injustice’ of the 2008 championship?