Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa “performed very poorly” at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and it was his and Ferrari’s mistakes — not the infamous ‘Crashgate’ scandal — that cost him the world title, the High Court in London has heard.
The 44-year-old Brazilian is suing Formula 1, its former boss Bernie Ecclestone, and the FIA for around £64 million plus interest, claiming a “conspiracy” robbed him of the 2008 championship, which Lewis Hamilton won for McLaren.
Massa was leading in Singapore when Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed to bring out a safety car, helping teammate Fernando Alonso win from 15th on the grid. But Ferrari’s botched pit stop during the chaos — sending Massa out with a fuel hose still attached — dropped him to 13th and out of the points.
Representing Ecclestone, lawyer David Quest argued Massa’s own performance and Ferrari’s errors, not Piquet’s crash, cost him the title. He also said Ecclestone, now 95, “does not remember” giving a 2023 interview that reignited the case.
Massa’s lawyers insist he only had grounds to sue after Ecclestone allegedly admitted he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew about the deliberate crash but took no action to “protect the sport.”
The 2008 scandal later saw Renault bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds banned, though Alonso was cleared. Hamilton famously clinched the title in dramatic fashion in Brazil — overtaking Timo Glock on the final lap.
Discussion about this post