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Former F1 driver Felipe Massa recently opened up about his thoughts on the 2008 F1 season and how he was robbed of a World Championship title. Massa is currently planning to take legal action against F1 and the FIA for the controversial results and outcomes in 2008 and how he should be given some form of compensation for them.
Speaking to The Athletic, Felipe Massa explained how he and his team of lawyers are ready to fight till the very end to overturn, or at least prove, that he is the rightful 2008 drivers' world champion, not Lewis Hamilton. He said:
“This is what we are fighting for. This is (why) we get together a group of lawyers to fight because this is the correct thing to do. We are pretty confident (in) the situation. We will fight them to the end because it was not correct. It was not fair for the sport, what’s happened.”
Furthermore, he termed the actions taken by F1 and the FIA during the 2008 F1 Singapore GP as 'manipulated' and 'corrupted', referring to how the seniors of the sport turned a blind eye towards Renault when the team deliberately asked Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash to allow Fernando Alonso to win the race. He added:
“They really understand that it was manipulation. They really understand that it was a race, it happened – a very serious situation like corruption, like manipulation — that is not the correct thing for the sport. I really hope they look back, and they fix what was not fair for the sport and for the people. I won it, so I need to get the confirmation that that is exactly what’s happened in the correct way.”
Felipe Massa sends Letter Before Claim to F1 and FIA prior to taking legal action against them for 2008 F1 Singapore GP 'crashgate' scandal
Felipe Massa, along with his lawyers, recently sent a Letter Before Claim to the FIA and F1 to ask for some form of financial compensation for the 2008 F1 World Championship loss due to misconduct from the seniors of the sport.
According to Reuters, the letter reads:
"Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 Driver's Champion, and F1 and FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title. Mr Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage but estimates that they are likely to exceed tens of millions of Euros. This amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses suffered by Mr Massa."
Ideally, Felipe Massa wanted the entire 2008 F1 Singapore GP to be nullified so that he could have more points than Lewis Hamilton in the championship table and win a 15-year-old title. Since this change is highly unlikely to happen, the Brazilian is now seeking millions of euros worth of compensation.
