McLaren laughs at possible Massa claim over end of '08 season

F1 News

McLaren pokes fun at Massa claim over crashgate
13 April 2023 at 15:26
Last update 13 April 2023 at 15:59
  • GPblog.com

Felipe Massa recently announced that he was investigating whether the 2008 world championship hatching could be challenged. GPblog previously explained why any case is doomed to fail. Even McLaren, which had the eventual world champion in '08 with Lewis Hamilton, does not seem to think the claim makes any sense. The English team even pokes fun at it.

Massa, driving for Ferrari at the time, stated in an interview with the Brazilian edition of Motorsport that he would look at whether the outcome of the title fight could still be overturned. According to Massa, the FIA was aware of crashgate back in 2008 during the Singapore GP, when Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed on purpose.

Being declared invalid

This allowed Fernando Alonso to make a free pit stop and win the race. Massa did not pick up any points and fell short of the world title at the end of the season. Since the FIA already knew about it at the time, according to an interview with then-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Massa said the Grand Prix should have been declared invalid.

Retrieved from TikTok, McLaren has posted a video about the 2008 season, and the team has done so with an obvious wink. It reads: "Denial is a river in Egypt."