Just one point. This is what separated Felipe Massa from becoming a legend by winning a world title with the little horse. The former driver of the red, known to history for the mocking outcome of the 2008 World Cup, he declared that he intends to evaluate the possibility of taking legal action in order to reassign the drivers' title.
That damned night
It was lap fifteen of the Singapore Grand Prix. Felipe led the race, Hamilton was right behind him, and Alonso was battling to get back to the positions that matter. Suddenly the sound of a bang: it's Piquet, he's banged. The safety car rolls in, all normal, then, the crime. The Brazilian restarts from the belay with the refueling hose still attached to his F2008, leaving a trail of fuel along the pit lane. From the first position, finishes last. Hamilton with the McLaren closes third. Vince Alonso, the teammate of Nelson Piquet's son in art.
What happened that evening cost Felipe what would have been enough for him to win the world championship with the Ferrari. the iris, the first of seven, Lewis Hamilton conquers it. Shortly after the gp, rumors appear that make you shiver: Piquet crashed on purpose for your partner to win. From there, chaos.
Massa tries to overturn the outcome, but…
Already at the time the Paulista pilot tried to get what he wanted. However, the FIA built a wall between itself and the title. Felipe asked for the Grand Prix to be cancelled Singapore, but la federation he said that the definitive ranking was already drawn up, therefore, unmodifiable. The governing body strengthened its position by declaring that it had no evidence of the bad faith of Alonso and Renault in the incident. A few days ago, however, a bolt from the blue rekindled the story. Bernie Ecclestone, former big boss of Formula 1, spoke of what happened, and his words revived Massa's hopes.
Ecclestone on the Massa case: "we could have intervened but we didn't"
The former tycoon didn't go around it: "We received enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statute, we should have canceled the race of Singapore in those conditions. This would have meant that that gp would never have been in the official list of the series and that Felipe Massa would have become world champion, not Lewis Hamilton".
Massa's reaction
Following Ecclestone's words, Massa has declared that he wants to evaluate the conditions for taking legal action. At the time, all the lawyers, including those of Ferrari, ruled out any possibility of intervening in favor of the Brazilian. To date, something has changed, though the federation's intricate judicial system does not seem to give Felipe much hope. The same labyrinthine system has prevented Wolff & Co. to overturn the verdict of the Abu Dhabi 2021 scandal. Felipe is always Felipe, who he declared that the only 'why' that drives him to unearth the issue is the need to see justice done in the sport he loves, removing any assumptions regarding an economic motivation. In the coming weeks we will know if the blindfolded goddess, for once, will fix the melancholy eyes of the green-gold pilot.
STATEMENT SOURCE: Motorsport.com Italy
