F1 News
Massa wins case against FIA? 'That would open the floodgates in the sport'
- Ludo van Denderen
His family was already cheering in the Ferrari pit box: Felipe Massa had just become world champion. Until the sobering came: Timo Glock had nearly stalled in his Toyota in the very last metres of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, allowing Lewis Hamilton to move up one place in the results. In doing so, he grabbed just that necessary point to keep Massa from the world title.
Meanwhile, Massa is considering taking the FIA to court, as he feels the motorsport federation had not acted adequately after the Singapore Grand Prix. In that race, Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately put his Renault into the crash barrier, allowing teammate Fernando Alonso to take advantage and win. According to Massa, the result of that race was unlawful, and should still be scrapped and then the Brazilian would still be the world champion.
What if, that's what this is all about. What if, for example, Glock did not get unlucky on that last lap at Interlagos? Then legal wrangling would not have been necessary at all and Massa would have been the '08 champion. The same Glock is now reacting to the Brazilian's fight with the FIA, which may result in a trip to court.
Glock has respect for Massa
"We could risk opening the floodgates to every driver who thinks they've been treated unfairly," Glock tells LuckyBlock.com. "We need to see what happens between Felipe and the courts. If it works out, I don't think it's the greatest thing for the sport. You could argue that every football game could follow! It's the same with tennis or any other sport. I don't know if that would be the right call. It was also 15 years ago, and people could question why this is happening so late. I respect Felipe a lot and he knows what he's doing. We need to see how it plays out."
Whatever happens; the 2008 season finale will forever go down in the books as one of the most exciting ever. "We saw flashes of the 2008 race in 2021 when it came down to Lewis and Max. In terms of drama, though, I don't think anybody could have predicted 2008. I was there! The 2021 race was brilliant, but 2008 was something nobody could have written. Everything came together - Felipe Massa was the World Champion for 30 seconds, meanwhile, I'm paddling around out there trying to survive! Lewis overtakes me in the last corner of the last lap. It was outstanding! I can't see anything like this happening again."