And voluntary accident by Nelsinho Piquet, a Grand prize to be cancelleda decisive third place result for the Hamilton won the 2008 World Cup. Today the former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa claims that title by contesting the legality of the Singapore Grand Prix on 28 September 2008. And the Brazilian is ready to take the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) to court to ask for awarded the world championship for pilots of 2008 which he lost to Lewis Hamilton (98 points for the Englishman and 97 for the Ferrari driver in the final standings).
Nelsinho Piquet and the “scandalo” crashgate“
Massa was prompted by the recent statements of the then owner of the “Circus” Bernie Ecclestone which he admitted to did not apply the regulation and therefore canceled the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix in what was termed the scandal crashgate“. In that race Nelsinho Piquet voluntarily triggered an accident to get one on track safety car so as to allow his partner at the time in Renault, Fernando Alonso to win the race. The safety car forced Massa at a pit stop who rejoined the track thirteenthwhile Lewis Hamilton finished third.
“I don’t want money but justice”
In an interview with Motorsport.comMassa said he would appeal “not for the money but for justice“. “They told me that I could not appeal after the proclamation of the champion, even if it is proven that it is theft. At the time, Ferrari’s lawyers told me about this rule. So logically I believed in this situation. But after 15 years, I feel that the patron of F1 (Ecclestone ndr) had discovered it in 2008together with the president of the FIA, and they have done nothing not to sully the name of Formula 1. It is very sad to know that the result of this race had to be canceled and that I would have had the title.”
“I was the one who lost the most”
“In the end, I was the one who lost the most with this result. The right solution is to cancel the result of that race. It’s the only justice that can be done in a case like this. We have already seen other similar situations happen in sport, such as Lance Armstrong, who has been shown to be on drugs, and lost all titles. What is the difference?”.