Felipe Massa's multi-million-dollar claim after crash-gate: how does it progress?

No claim to the world title

The whole affair revolves around the fact that Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley - who ran F1 at the time - known back in 2008 that Nelson Piquet junior deliberately crashed his car at the Singapore Grand Prix, allowing teammate Fernando Alonso to eventually win the race. If the top men had intervened right then - and according to Massa, that should have been to invalidate the result - the Brazilian would have taken the title at the end of the season. It went to Lewis Hamilton.

In early 2023, a German website published an interview with F1 owner Ecclestone, who allegedly confirmed that he knew about everything at the time. For Massa, those statements were enough to take legal action. After months of investigation, an update of that followed on Thursday. Most interesting from what has come out via Reuters news agency: Massa is thus making no claim to the 2008 world title.

The regulations of the FIA - to which every participant in the championship conforms - do not allow any further haggling over the outcome of the title fight 15 years ago. His lawyers have probably realised that protesting against this is pointless, unless they still find an entry to challenge Lewis Hamilton's world title at a later date.

Massa wants financial compensation

The London-based lawyers do suggest that Massa has missed out on a lot of money that would have resulted from winning the world championship. They are probably referring to sponsorship money, but also to a common clause in F1 contracts. When winning a title, the driver in question usually receives a hefty bonus. For this, Massa wants to be financially compensated.

Massa not (yet) going to court

The Brazilian - at the time racing for Ferrari - opts for the 'Letter of Claim' and initially not a court case to obtain that money. This 'Letter of Claim' is a widely used tool, as it is a way to avoid going to court. Massa and his lawyers are clearly hoping for a settlement with the (then) owners of Formula 1 and the FIA. Should that fail to materialise, legal action is the next step.

There are several complicating factors for Massa. Besides the long term that has now been provided, Ecclestone's memory is one of them. To Reuters, the Briton reveals that he does not remember any interview with a German medium at all, let alone the statements. So Massa will soon have to prove that the journalist who wrote the article with Ecclestone indeed quoted him correctly. Asking Max Mosley for clarification will also be difficult, as the former FIA president died two years ago. Besides, any litigation will take years, and at 92, Ecclestone is also quite elderly.

Formula 1 as an organisation is also seen as a party by Massa. The latter is aware of correspondence from the Massa camp, but tells Reuters: "The matter is under investigation and we will not comment at this stage."