The lawyer of the former Brazilian driver (at the time at Ferrari) speaks after the letter sent to the FIA: “We await a response by mid-October”
The dispute between Felipe Massa, F1 and the FIA over the 2008 World Championship is enriched by a new chapter. Bernardo Viana, one of the lawyers to whom the Brazilian driver entrusted the dispute against the federation, explained the objective of the request. Which would also involve Ferrari… “We want to bring home the trophy, it’s not a question of money.” The Brazilian driver aims to overturn the sporting result, not only to the recognition and reimbursement of the alleged economic damage suffered for not being crowned world champion. An overturn bordering on the impossible, 15 years after the award to Lewis Hamilton. But Viana says he is confident: “As Ecclestone himself admitted, the results of Singapore should be canceled entirely”, giving rise to a ranking led by Massa himself. The lawyer also expects news soon: “Formula 1 and FIA have promised us a response to our pre-dispute letter by mid-October”.
history
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In fact, the former Ferrari driver had decided to rely on lawyers after Bernie Ecclestone, director of Formula One Management and de facto head of the championship at the time of the events, had revealed that he and FIA president Max Mosley knew of the irregular strategy adopted by Renault at the 2008 Singapore GP, which later became known as the “Crashgate” scandal, before the end of the season. That year Massa lost the title to Hamilton by one point, with the Englishman gaining six points in the standings in Singapore.
the role of Lewis
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Returning to the statements of Massa’s entourage, the most surprising sentence concerns Hamilton himself, for whom 2008 was only the first of seven triumphal seasons. In fact, Viana wants to focus on the Briton’s contribution: “Lewis is an important ambassador of Formula 1 and sporting integrity, as well as an honorary citizen of Brazil, much loved by Brazilians. We hope to have his support.” It goes without saying that his appeal has a good chance of remaining unheard, also because Hamilton himself has said he is not interested in rehashing an affair from 15 years ago.
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