ON MARCH 11TH, BRAZILIAN racer Felipe Massa fi led a lawsuit against Formula One Management (FOM) – the company that holds the rights to organize and broadcast Formula 1 (F1) –, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), and Bernie Ecclestone, the former president of FOM. Massa is trying to reclaim the 2008 F1 world title, and a compensation of 407.6 million reais – the amount of the prize plus other financial returns that he would have received if he had been the champion.

What happened in 2008?

The Singapore Grand Prix (GP) in 2008 was marked by an accident: Nelson Piquet Jr., then a Renault driver, crashed his car against a wall. However, according to Piquet Jr. himself, the crash was intentional, because the team allegedly ordered him to favor another Renault driver, Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who had finished his pit stop (a stop to refuel, for example) shortly before.

Because the GP had to be paused so debris from the crash could be collected, other drivers were only able to make their pit stops afterwards. For this reason, Alonso managed to get ahead and finish in first place.

When he made his pit stop after the GP resumed, Massa had technical problems and took a long time to return. Because of that, he placed worse than British racer Lewis Hamilton. The points secured by Hamilton in Singapore helped him become the champion that year with 98 points. Massa finished the tournament with 97.

In 2023, Bernie Ecclestone said that, in his opinion, the rules were poorly enforced, thus hindering Massa. This statement is being used in the indictment. “As FIA and FOM decided to do nothing, we will seek redress of this historical injustice through the courts”, declared Massa through his press team.

SOURCES: CNN, ESTADÃO, GLOBO ESPORTE, AND UOL.

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