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Felipe Massa says he has “nothing against Hamilton”, but his 2008 title legal battle “is about a race that was rigged”, and adds: “We’re going to fight to get the title.”
Felipe Massa lost the 2008 title battle to Lewis Hamilton in the final race of the season, however earlier this year he announced he intends to change that result by challenging the outcome of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
In Singapore, Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed his car to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso win the race.
However this also affected Massa and his title chances, as during the Safety Car period triggered by the crash, the Brazilian suffered a botched pit stop by his team – Ferrari, that dropped him down to 13th, while his title rival Hamilton managed to finish in P3.
Massa believes that had the crash not happened, he would not have pitted, and would have finished the race ahead of Hamilton. These points would ultimately allow him to beat Lewis for the title.
Last week Motorsport.com reported that Massa decided to step up his legal challenge by sending a ‘Letter Before Claim’ to the FIA and Formula One Management, in which he provides details of his case and announces his intention to pursue the matter in court.
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Until now It has not been completely clear what Massa’s ultimate goal was – just a financial compensation or also the 2008 title – but in a talk with Brazilian website GE, he revealed he is going for the title.
“We’re going to fight to get the title,” Massa said.
“I’m here to make it clear things didn’t happen fairly.”
He added he has nothing against Lewis, but he feels the result of the race and ultimately the championship was unjust.
“I have nothing against Hamilton. This battle is about a race that was rigged. That world title was ours, and it was taken away by manipulation.
“I think it’s important for us to fight to get justice for the sport. We fight for the title, and that’s our fight where we go to the end,” the Brazilian concluded.
As we already elaborated in a previous article, Lewis actually has nothing to do with this situation whatsoever, because what Piquet Jr. did in Singapore was a deliberate move to help his team-mate Fernando Alonso, and every other driver was a victim.
Every driver on the grid was put in the same situation and they had to cope with it the best they could.
Ferrari made a mistake which cost their driver several positions, while Lewis Hamilton and McLaren did everything right, and ultimately bested their rivals.
Lewis did not benefit from Piquet’s move, nor was the move designed to help him, he was in the same position as every other driver on the grid (except Alonso).
