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Felipe Massa has officially started legal proceedings against the FIA and the FOM for the 2008 F1 championship that was won by Lewis Hamilton. The infamous 'crash gate' in 2008 that reared its ugly head almost 15 years ago has come back to haunt the sport once again.
For all that don't know what this is all about, click here to find the details behind the 'crash gate' and why Massa is seeking legal action.
The question though is not really about what the outcome of this legal battle is going to be. With almost 15 years passed, a title changing hands would be unprecedented and the logistical challenges would be next to impossible.
So before we even begin, let's make one thing clear, the probability of Felipe Massa being named the rightful winner of the 2008 F1 championship is as bleak as it could get.
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The Brazilian himself would be very well aware of what might be on the table as he's gone ahead with the legal proceedings. Having said that, there is a bigger question in play here and that is the trial the affable Massa faces already.
That trial is whether the much loved Brazilian's actions will be understood by the fans and F1 fraternity. Will anyone even bother to understand his point of view? For now, the answer seems to be no.
The Brazilian has already become a subject of ridicule with even respected journalist Glenn Freeman suggesting that the financial incentive might have a role to play in Massa's actions.
Add to this the kind of ridicule that Felipe Massa is already facing from a massive Lewis Hamilton fan community online, it's going to be merciless. This is where I feel Massa deserves a voice as well because, by the looks of it, he's not going to get one from anywhere.
In this feature, I'm trying to put forward the reason why Felipe Massa has gone ahead with the legal proceedings, not because we expect him to take the title away from Lewis Hamilton but because in all likelihood, it will never see the light of day.
Lewis Hamilton vs Felipe Massa: Who deserved to win the title?
Before we go ahead and make the case for Felipe Massa, there's one question we need to answer first. Who deserved to win the 2008 F1 world title? The answer to that question is both.
The 2008 F1 championship battle was as close as it gets. It ebbed and flowed all season and it came down to the last lap of the last race where Lewis Hamilton nicked it from Felipe Massa.
Could we dig deeper, establish criteria and find out who was the better driver? We could, but that's not the point. The point is that even when we do something like that, we will find out that the gap between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa was not substantiative and either would have made a worthy champion.
Now, let's get to the more important part of the debate that nobody wants to talk about.
- Does he have a case?
- Why is he doing this?
Does Felipe Massa have a claim to Lewis Hamilton's 2008 F1 title?
In short, he does. While this might outrage a lot of Lewis Hamilton fans, the 2008 F1 championship changes hands if the result of the Singapore GP is removed.
The question now becomes whether the result of that race should stand or not. As earlier explained in this link, if the information about the fixed race had surfaced after the award ceremony in 2008 then the result can't be changed.
As revealed by Bernie Ecclestone earlier this season, the F1 supremo and the FIA president Max Mosley knew but decided not to act. The duo were trying to shield the sport from more backlash after the Spygate scandal of 2007. If Ecclestone had acted then, the 2008 F1 Singapore GP would not have been included in the championship and Hamilton would not have won the title.
This is the premise with which Felipe Massa seems to be going ahead with. Will it work? Will he get the decision in his favor? It looks highly unlikely because the logistical barriers that include a complete reshuffle of the championship order will be a huge mess and it won't be a road that the FOM or the FIA would want to go down.
Why is Felipe Massa doing this?
Finally, we come to the crux of the matter that nobody seems interested in covering. Why is Felipe Massa doing this? It's almost laughable when so many F1 pundits take a surface-level approach and put it down to the 'monetary benefits' of the case.
Maybe that's true. Maybe a driver that is already a millionaire is doing it solely for monetary gain. That is one way of looking at it as the Brazilian is looking for 'compensation' for what happened in 2008.
The psyche of an F1 world champion
Or maybe, let's dig deeper into the psyche of a young Brazilian that made it to F1 with only one dream, of emulating Ayrton Senna.
A young kid who left his home at a young age to accomplish something. A young driver who saw the kind of adulation that was bestowed on Senna when he died in 1994 and a driver that wanted to give his passionate nation something to cheer about.
Massa made it to F1 in 2002 and had been already earmarked by Ferrari as one of its drivers in the future. By the time he reached the top team, he was expected to fulfill a role that would have been contrary to what he wanted when he started his career. He was the understudy of the great Michael Schumacher in 2006. He knew his role was to learn from the great one and help him as much as possible.
Massa didn't, however, know that this was what Ferrari had signed him up for. He was not looked at as the next leader at Ferrari. On the contrary, he was looked at as someone who would play the supporting role in the best possible manner. Felipe Massa was going to be the next Rubens Barrichello or Eddie Irvine at Ferrari, not a Michael Schumacher or Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost.
After being an outsider in the 2007 F1 championship with Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Kimi Raikkonen battling it out, it did appear that something changed in Felipe Massa for the 2008 F1 season. After conceding a home win in Brazil in 2007 to help Raikkonen win the title, Massa seemed more motivated than ever to do better.
While Kimi Raikkonen's surprise drop in his motivation coincided with Felipe Massa's rise, the 2008 F1 season was where the Brazilian peaked. Taking over the lead role from Kimi, he took on the challenge against Lewis Hamilton. The Brazilian put together some sensational performances throughout the season.
Was he perfect throughout the season? No, but neither was Hamilton. Even when the title was lost in Brazil in the last corner of the last lap of the season, Massa remained gracious. With tears falling down his face he pumped his chest and took the defeat with dignity.
He had tasted that rarefied air and no one could say that he did not deserve to be in that position. Felipe Massa had battled the best talent to make it to F1 in recent years in Lewis Hamilton and almost beat him for the title.
The tragic downfall
While Lewis Hamilton's career continued to grow from strength to strength, Felipe Massa's career nose-dived. The Brazilian suffered a tragic accident during the 2009 F1 Hungarian GP race weekend that turned his career trajectory completely.
The drop in competence of Ferrari as a frontrunner and the emergence of Fernando Alonso as a team leader within the team meant Felipe will never achieve those heights ever again in his career.
He retired in 2017 as a respected F1 driver but far removed from the heights of 2008.
The shocking revelation
Before we get into the shocking revelation from Bernie Ecclestone, here's the prestige that would have been bestowed upon Felipe Massa if he won the title in 2008. He would have been the last Ferrari world champion in 15 years, he would have been the last Brazilian F1 world champion since Ayrton Senna in 1991.
Most importantly, he would have given his passionate countrymen something to cheer for a long time. Unfortunately, this didn't happen. Lewis Hamilton won the title and since it seemed like everything was done fairly, there was no debate whatsoever.
This changed in 2023 when Bernie Ecclestone's interview with the F1 insider revealed that the FIA and FOM knew about the crashgate but chose not to act. It was this very fact that infuriated Felipe Massa because what it means is that the title battle between him and Lewis Hamilton was not fair.
A fixed race determined the outcome and robbed him of the prestige that he had rightfully earned. In Felipe Massa's view, he should be recognized as the rightful winner of the 2008 F1 world championship. That is what he's fighting for.
Not many publications will cover such a crucial aspect of the whole scandal and as we've seen already, several F1 pundits might shrug the whole thing off as a cash grab attempt. The point of view of Felipe Massa needs to be told and put in front of the fans so that he gets a 'fair trial' in the court of the opinion of fans and the F1 fraternity.
I hope I did my bit because, after 15 years of a cover-up, this is the least we can do.
