Lewis Hamilton title at risk as Felipe Massa weighs up legal action

Lewis Hamilton on difficult season for Mercedes in November

Lewis Hamilton’s first F1 world title could be at risk as Felipe Massa, who narrowly missed out on the crown in 2008, has pledged to consider legal action over his controversial defeat. Former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted last month that the ex-Ferrari man had been robbed of the Drivers’ Championship – which would have been the only title triumph of his career.

Massa’s 2008 title bid took a hit at the infamous Singapore Grand Prix. The race is still remembered for Nelson Piquet Jr.’s deliberate crash which helped his Renault team-mate, Fernando Alonso, snatch victory.

The incident brought out a Safety Car and Ferrari botched Massa’s pitstop, which sent the Brazilian tumbling down the pecking order. Hamilton, meanwhile, was able to capitalise and the points swing ultimately proved crucial, with the Brit clinching his maiden crown by a single point later that season.

An investigation concluded that Piquet Jr. crashed on purpose, landing Renault with a two-year suspended ban from F1. Ecclestone recently admitted that he and former FIA boss Max Mosley chose not to overturn the result ‘to protect the sport from a huge scandal’.

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“According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions,” he told F1-insider. “That means it would never have happened for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”

Massa has since responded by claiming that he plans to pursue legal action which, if successful, may see Hamilton stripped of his 2008 crown. “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,” the 41-year-old explained to Motorsport.com.

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

“But 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. 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.”

Although Massa also acknowledged that seeing the result overturned is unlikely, going after Hamilton’s first world title could have disastrous consequences for the Brit, who is currently chasing an eighth crown to put him above Michael Schumacher at the top of the all-time charts.

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