Fake accident in 2008
How Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa fights for the world title
November 3rd, 2023, 7:58 a.m
Felipe Massa’s Brazil victory was 15 years ago. It wasn’t enough to win the World Cup. But that should change according to his will. Colleagues say next to nothing about it. His rival at the time, Lewis Hamilton, has no desire to talk about the past.
It is still unclear whether Felipe Massa will be at the scene of one of his worst emotional rollercoaster rides this time. On November 2, 2008, he won his home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix in his hometown of São Paulo. Fans in the stands and the family in the Ferrari pit celebrated not only Massa’s victory, but even the supposed world title.
Seconds later it was clear: it was not Massa, but Lewis Hamilton who won the Formula 1 World Championship thanks to an overtaking maneuver against Timo Glock in the last few meters and a one-point lead in the standings. But the race is not the reason for a possible legal aftermath of the World Cup 15 years ago.
The scandal had previously occurred at the premiere in Singapore, when Nelson Piquet junior caused an accident at the behest of the then Renault team management. As a result, his stablemate at the time, Fernando Alonso, won the race.
Ambassador Massa will not visit the route
Because the then Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted this year that he and the then and now deceased FIA boss Max Mosley were aware of the fake accident but did nothing before the end of the season, Massa wants it a decade and a half later possibly sue in civil court. He is still waiting for an answer from Formula 1 and the International Automobile Federation Fia. He wants to be awarded the world title retrospectively.
“I don’t pay any attention to it,” confirmed Hamilton again in the paddock at Interlagos. And the four other pilots who sat in the press conference with the 38-year-old Briton on Thursday also had noticeably little or no desire to comment further on the topic. There was more of a silence.
If Massa and his lawyers had their way, the result of the Singapore race would have had to be cancelled. At that time he was in 13th place, Hamilton was third. In his role as Formula 1 ambassador, Massa explained to the specialist portal motorsport.com with a view to the upcoming Grand Prix weekend that he would not be going to the race. There was no invitation and no conversation. “I think I shouldn’t take part,” said the 42-year-old ex-pilot.