Ever since Bernie Ecclestone confessed to having known about Crashgate prior to the incident itself, Felipe Massa has filed a lawsuit against FIA and FOM. He claims that he is the rightful Champion of the 2008 season and that the FIA executives robbed him of it by letting Crashgate happen. Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur has given his take on the situation.
“As you can imagine, I don’t want to make any comment on this matter.” Fred Vasseur said prior to the Dutch Grand Prix. “I have a good relationship with all the stakeholders, and it’s quite tricky. The circumstances were completely exceptional. But more generally, and not about Felipe, I think we (Ferrari) are also trying to push the FIA to know the result of the event at the chequered flag.”
📰: Fred Vasseur cautious on Massa’s legal claim seeking compensation for 2008 championship loss. Ferrari boss refrains from commenting due to delicate nature of issue. Massa’s lawyers claim he lost millions due to ‘Crashgate’ conspiracy. FIA reviewing matter, no response from… pic.twitter.com/keAoCX42Ra
— F1 Naija 🇳🇬 (@f1_naija) August 23, 2023
“I don’t want to make any comments but for sure it will be strange. I’m not a big fan of changing the result of a race 15 minutes after the chequered flag,” he added.
While the Ferrari team principal did indicate that he prefers things to stay the same. It has been 15 years since Felipe Massa lost the 2008 Championship. However, the Brazilian says he could have won the Championship if not for the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008. For this reason, he has officially sued the FIA and FOM.
Despite Felipe Massa losing the WDC by 1 point, Ferrari was able to take home the WCC that season. This was because both drivers for the team were performing well on a consistent basis. Meanwhile, in McLaren, only Lewis Hamilton was getting good results.
Would Felipe Massa have won the Championship if not for Crashgate?
During the Brazilian Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was leading the race with Lewis Hamilton 1 position behind where he had to be to win the Championship. In the final sector of the last lap, Timo Glock who was ahead of Lewis faced issues with the car and allowed Lewis to get past. Although Massa won the race, Hamilton won the Championship by just 1 point.
During the Singapore Grand Prix, Felipe Massa was leading the race with Hamilton behind him. A few laps into the Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso pitted for fresh tires. Minutes later, his teammate was ordered to crash the car so Alonso would have the chance to win the race.
11 laps remaining, #Massa, unforced error spins in to a wall. Sure Felipe, #crashgate cost you that day, nothing to do with this and driving off with your fuel hose attached pic.twitter.com/a5d9bJ75cC
— Phil Pip Matthews (@PipZer0) August 18, 2023
Following the crash, both Ferraris came into the pits. Upon release, the fuel line was still stuck in Felipe Massa’s car. This dropped him from 1st place to last place in the race. Massa scored no points while Lewis Hamilton finished P3.
Although Crashgate favored Hamilton in terms of the Championship, there is no telling how the race or the season would have gone down if not for Crashgate. For these reasons, it cannot be determined if Massa would have won the Championship or not if not for the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.