Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 Formula 1 World Champion slammed Felipe Massa for his legal action aimed at changing the result of the 2008 F1 World Championship, which Lewis Hamilton won as a McLaren driver.
Representing the 42-year-old from Sao Paulo, Brazilian lawyers Vieira Rezende Advogados kickstarted the action when they announced: “On March 11, 2024, Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit in the High Court in London, England against Formula One Management Limited (FOM), Bernard Charles Ecclestone and the Federation Internationale de L’Automobile (FIA).
"Mr Massa is seeking declarations that the FIA breached its regulations by failing to promptly investigate Nelson Piquet Junior’s crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and that had it acted properly, Mr Massa would have won the drivers’ championship that year.
"Mr Massa also seeks damages for the significant financial loss he has suffered due to the FIA’s failure, in which Mr Ecclestone and FOM were also complicit. Attempts to find an amicable resolution have been unsuccessful, leaving Mr Massa with no choice but to initiate legal proceedings."
Villeneuve: What is behind Massa's thinking? I don’t know
Reacting to the court action by Massa, his Sauber teammate Villeneuve launched the most scathing attack to date, on the Brazilian, when he told the OLBG media team: "I find it ludicrous. I am trying to understand what is going on in his mind. What is behind his thinking? I don’t know.
"There is no legal basis for his appeal. It is madness. But with judges you never know how it will end up. That is what is scary and dangerous. What about Maradona and the Hand of God at the 1986 World Cup? Do you try to challenge things like that now? Of course not. You can’t," insisted Villeneuve.
Perhaps less vehemently, many would side with Villeneuve on this one, but there are others who would like the whole putrid Singapore 2008 Crashgate saga put to bed once and for all.
The biggest criticism is the one and a half decades it has taken Massa to go to war for the "justice" he seeks. Why not immediately after the race when already there were suspicions Fernando Alonso had won because of a cheat? Why not when Max Mosley was allegedly told about it by Nelson Piquet Senior in Brazil later that same year?
Understandably that might have been too early. But why not a year afterwards when the story broke and 'Crashgate' was exposed with the saga's 'star' Nelson Piquet Jr, the villains Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds also in 'starring roles' - then surely was the time for Ferrari to strike on the behalf of Massa. But it did not happen.
Now Massa is opening up a can of worms that dates back over 15 years begging the question:
Why now and not back then?
To answer that it is worth considering the timeline beyond the Sunday, on 28 September 2008. On the night there was an odd feeling in the paddock that something untoward had happened that turned no hoper Alonso into the winner.
There are reports that Piquet Senior, in November of that year, during the Brazilian GP weekend informed FIA President of the time Max Mosley about the Renault shenanigans involving his son. Upon which he was told to make a legal statement to that effect and an investigation would be launched.
But Piquet Senior, wanting to keep his son in the seat at Briatore's Renault team, opted to keep quiet. Until, of course, his son was sent packing to make way for Renault's poster boy and Briatore plant Romain Grosjean to be Alonso's teammate.
That's when it all came out. A year later. Still no reaction from Massa at the time, late 2009. Why? Could the answer be: Jean Todt?
Consider that Todt, whose son Nicolas managed Massa, gave the Brazilian his break. First Ferrari paid for his Sauber education during Monsieur Jean's tenure as boss at Maranello, before they promoted him to the Scuderia in 2006, alongside Michael Schumacher.
Is Massa whistleblowing only now that it is convenient for his interests?
Ferrari and Massa should've taken the FIA to task when it became official in late 2009. But they didn't, so did Massa keep quiet as long as his mate, mentor and manager aka The Todts were:
- Looking out for his fortunes as a race driver??
- Because Todt Senior was shifting from Ferrari F1 team boss to FIA President that same year??
A couple of valid questions that come to mind while trying to analyze the situation and worth answering...
Todt remained FIA President until 2021, during which time nothing was mentioned about this "great injustice" Massa is now aiming to set right. But it's a case of too much too late. Surely Massa allowed the statute of limitations to run out on this one with this back-to-the-future claim.
Villeneuve alludes to that in concluding his Massa analysis: "There is a certain time when at a certain time a result is declared. It is too bad. That is life. You win some, you lose some. You can’t just cancel a race where every driver has been risking their lives, for the rest of the field who adapted to the situation now knowing what was going on.
"At the end of the day, they screwed up their own race. It is the most ludicrous thing I have heard in a long time. Felipe should be embarrassed," declared Villeneuve.
That night in Singapore, Ferrari messed up Massa's pitstop as he drove off with the fueling hose still attached. He finished out of the points in 13th. Had Alonso been disqualified, Hamilton would have still won the Championship by even more than the one point because his P3 on the night at Marina Bay would have become P2.
Hamilton's take on the Massa's crusade is simple: “If that’s the direction that Felipe wants to go, that’s his decision. I prefer not to focus on the past. Whether it’s 15 years ago, two years ago, or three days ago, I’m only interested in the present.”
Big Question: Should Felipe Massa be embarrassed fighting for the 2008 F1 title now?
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