Felipe Massa has begun authorized proceedings in opposition to the FIA and Method One Administration over the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Attorneys representing the Ferrari driver named the 2 organisations, plus former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, as the topics of his case.
Massa is searching for affirmation from the FIA that he would have received the 2008 world championship had the governing physique investigated a suspicious crash in that 12 months’s Singapore Grand Prix extra promptly.
The association behind Nelson Piquet Jnr’s crash on the 14th lap of the race got here to mild the next 12 months. The Renault driver had agreed to crash his automotive on objective so as to trigger a Security Automotive interval which his staff mate, Fernando Alonso, would profit from. The plan labored and Alonso received the race.
Massa’s failure to attain within the race, on account of a botched pit cease which occured throughout the subsequent Security Automotive interval, was a setback for his hopes of profitable the championship. On the season finale three spherical later he misplaced the title to Lewis Hamilton
The main points of the plan got here to mild throughout 2009. No modifications had been made to the race end result because the 2008 championship had already concluded.
Nonetheless following feedback made by Ecclestone final 12 months, Massa believes the FIA knew concerning the plot early sufficient to take motion. He claims the results of the race ought to have been cancelled, making him champion.
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Massa’s representatives acknowledged: “Makes an attempt to seek out an amicable decision have been unsuccessful, leaving Mr. Massa with no selection however to provoke authorized proceedings.”
Most of the prime employees on the FIA have moved on the in 15 years for the reason that race came about. Present president Mohamed Ben Sulayem, who was elected in 2021, is dealing with questions over alleged interference in a race final 12 months.
The assertion added: “Current occasions naturally display that problems with transparency and integrity in Method 1 stay related, and it’s clear that severe work is required to revive its credibility and long-term future.”
Assertion from Massa’s attorneys
On March 11, 2024, Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit within the Excessive Courtroom in London, England in opposition to Method One Administration Restricted (FOM), Bernard Charles Ecclestone, and the Federation Internationale de L’Vehicle (FIA).
Mr Massa is searching for declarations that the FIA breached its laws by failing to promptly examine Nelson Piquet Junior’s crash on the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and that had it acted correctly, Mr Massa would have received the drivers’ championship that 12 months. Mr Massa additionally seeks damages for the numerous monetary loss he has suffered because of the FIA’s failure, during which Mr Ecclestone and FOM had been additionally complicit.
As Mr Ecclestone has admitted, there was “sufficient info in time to research the matter” in 2008 and “cancel the race in Singapore”. Mr Ecclestone additional affirmed that, had the outcomes of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix been canceled, “Felipe Massa would have grow to be world champion” and that Mr. Massa “was cheated out of the title he deserved.
Makes an attempt to seek out an amicable decision have been unsuccessful, leaving Mr Massa with no selection however to provoke authorized proceedings.
Current occasions naturally display that problems with transparency and integrity in Method One stay related, and it’s clear that severe work is required to revive its credibility and long-term future.
Though the FIA investigation in 2009 concluded that it had “by no means earlier than thought of expenses as severe”, even after the revelations introduced ahead final 12 months, the outcomes of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix nonetheless stand and stay formally sanctioned by the FIA.
Felipe Massa is represented in England by barristers Nick de Marco KC and Kendrah Potts, instructed by Richard Levett and Daniel Levy (Enyo Regulation LLP). The complete staff additionally contains Bernardo Viana (Vieira Rezende Advogados), Antonio J. Perez-Marques (Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP), Michele Bernasconi (Bär & Karrer), and Olivier Loizon (Gide Loyrette Nouel).
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