Rumor: Lewis Hamilton might lose one of his 7 F1 titles to Massa (3rd Update)
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Felipe Massa thinks Lewis Hamilton was an illegitimate F1 champion back in 2008 and should be stripped of his title.
Massa has reportedly assembled a legal team to assess whether a challenge into the outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship is viable.
At the time crashgate was exposed, Massa wanted the results of the 2008 Singapore GP to be cancelled, which was not possible under the sport’s statutes.
In an interview with F1-Insider in March, Ecclestone revealed that he and the FIA had known about the ramifications of the incident during the 2008 season, and that he had wanted to protect the sport’s reputation while the title battle was ongoing between Massa and Lewis Hamilton.
“We decided not to do anything for now,” Ecclestone said. “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. That’s why I used angelic tongues to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep calm for the time being.
“Back then, there was a rule that a world championship classification after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year was untouchable. So Hamilton was presented with the trophy and everything was fine.
“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.
“That means it would never have happened for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”
April 5, 2023
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Another scenario of what would have happened has come to light.
“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions,” Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview with the F1-Insider website published last month.
In that race, Lewis Hamilton collected 6 points for 3rd place and Felipe Massa zero for 13th place. Had the race been cancelled as the Ecclestone said the statutes at that time mandated, then Hamilton would have lost the 6 points and Massa would have won the championship by 5 points over Hamilton instead of losing it by 1.
Ecclestone’s comments have hinted at a potential cover-up to protect F1 from negative headlines – and are enough for Massa to feel he needs to pursue the matter further.
For the Brazilian would have every right to feel aggrieved that, if the FIA did know about it during 2008 when the results of that season could have been changed, then why was it not investigated immediately?
April 5, 2023
–by Mark Cipolloni–
If F1 kicked Renault out of the 2008 championship entirely.
Hamilton would gain a total of 4 extra points, Massa 5.
They’d finish equal in the standings on 102 points.
Massa would be champion on count back of wins, 6 to Hamilton’s 5.
April 4, 2023
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Lewis Hamilton should only have six world championships, according to Bernie Ecclestone.
The 92-year-old says Felipe Massa should actually have won the 2008 championship.
In that season – Hamilton’s official first title – Nelson Piquet jr deliberately crashed during the Singapore GP, helping his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race.
Ecclestone says he and Max Mosley knew long before the outbreak of the ‘crashgate’ scandal in 2009 that the deliberate crash had occurred.
“We decided not to do anything,” he said. “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.
“That’s why I used the tongue of an angel to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep quiet for the time being,” Ecclestone told f1-insider.com.
But if the scandal had broken within 2008, Hamilton may ultimately have not gone on to beat Ferrari’s Massa by a single point.
“Back then, there was a rule that a world championship classification was untouchable after the FIA awards ceremony at the end of the year,” Ecclestone said.
“So Hamilton was presented with the cup and everything was fine.”
But Ecclestone now thinks the results of the Singapore race should have been nullified by Piquet’s deliberate act of sabotage – which would have given the title to Massa.
“We had enough information at the time to investigate the matter,” Ecclestone admits. “According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.
“That means it would never have happened for the world championship standings. And Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.
“I still feel sorry for Massa today,” Ecclestone continued. “He won the final at his home race in Sao Paulo and did everything right. He was cheated of the title he deserved while Hamilton had all the luck in the world and won his first championship.
“Today I would have done things differently. That’s why, to me, Michael Schumacher is still the sole record world champion, even if the statistics say otherwise.”
Massa looks to sue to get F1 title he, and not Hamilton, won
Felipe Massa has revealed that he plans to evaluate whether there are any legal routes that could help him challenge the outcome of the 2008 F1 world championship that he lost to Lewis Hamilton.
Massa said: “There is a rule that says that when a championship is decided, from the moment the driver receives the champion’s trophy, things can no longer be changed, even if it has been proven a theft.
“At the time, Ferrari’s lawyers told me about this rule. We went to other lawyers and the answer was that nothing could be done. So, I logically believed in this situation.”
“[…] I would never go after it thinking financially, I would go after it thinking about justice. I think if you’ve been punished for something that wasn’t your fault, and it’s the product of a robbery, a stolen race, justice has to be served.”
“In fact, the right situation is to cancel the result of that race. It is the only justice that can be done in a case like this.”
If Massa does sue and prevails, Hamilton will lose one of his 7 F1 titles. The other 6 were won only because he had a superior car, no one could beat. He no longer has that superior car, and the results are obvious.