Massa officially goes to court: Hamilton's world title in jeopardy?

Massa missed out on the world title in 2008. Lewis Hamilton won it on the last lap of the final race of the season. However, Massa believes he, and not Hamilton, should hold the title. The infamous Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 should never have counted towards the world championship and without that race, Massa had more points than Hamilton.

Massa's pursuit of the title comes as a result of a Bernie Ecclestone ruling. 'Crashgate' did not become public knowledge until a year later, but the former F1 CEO stated that F1 and the FIA were already aware of what had taken place in 2008. Nelson Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed to help Fernando Alonso to victory. Massa believes the race should have been scrapped as a result.

Why Massa is still hoping for the world title

Had the management intervened back then, Massa would have stood with more points than Hamilton at the end of the year. Now more than 15 years later, Massa wants to resolve it through the courts. "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," reads the statement from Brazilian law firm Vieira Rezende Advogados.

"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."