Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has taken motion within the London Excessive Court docket towards System 1, former industrial supremo Bernie Ecclestone and the governing FIA, looking for recognition as 2008 world champion and monetary compensation.
A courtroom doc offered by Massa’s representatives mentioned the perfect estimate of his alleged monetary losses from lacking out on the title by a single level was 64 million kilos ($124 million) plus curiosity.
That sum represented the distinction in wage for the rest of his profession and cash from sponsorship and industrial alternatives, in addition to a 1.7 million pound bonus he would have acquired from Ferrari.
“I all the time mentioned that I’d struggle till the top. As FIA and FOM [Formula One Management] determined to do nothing, we are going to search the correction of this historic injustice via the courts,” Massa mentioned.
“The matter is now with the legal professionals and they’re totally authorised to do no matter is critical in order that justice is completed for the game.”
System One Administration and the Paris-based Worldwide Vehicle Federation (FIA) wouldn’t touch upon the transfer when contacted by Reuters.
The 2008 title went to Britain’s Lewis Hamilton, who was then racing for McLaren and is now a seven-times champion with Mercedes.
Reuters was unable to find instantly a document of a lawsuit introduced by Massa on the courtroom’s digital submitting system however Massa’s representatives offered courtroom paperwork which acknowledged that the lawsuit was filed on Monday.
Massa, 42, needs the FIA to acknowledge it breached its personal rules by not instantly investigating a Singapore Grand Prix crash that blew up the next yr into one of many sport’s largest scandals.
The Brazilian has highlighted an Ecclestone quote to the German web site F1 Insider stating that Massa ought to have been world champion and was “disadvantaged of the title he deserved”.
The Briton, now 93, additionally mentioned there was not “sufficient info at the moment to research the matter” and cancel the Singapore race.
Ecclestone informed Reuters final August he couldn’t keep in mind saying the quotes attributed to him.
“Makes an attempt to resolve the matter amicably haven’t been profitable up to now, leaving, due to this fact, no various however to take the difficulty to courtroom,” Brazilian regulation agency Vieira Rezende Advogados mentioned in a press release.
“Latest occasions spotlight the continued relevance of problems with transparency and integrity in System One, and it’s clear that severe work is required to revive its credibility and safe its long-term future.”
Massa was main the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix from pole place when fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr crashed into the wall on lap 14 of 61.
The crash triggered the protection automobile and benefited Piquet’s Renault teammate Fernando Alonso, who gained the race. Massa failed to attain after a bungled pit cease.
Piquet revealed in 2009 that he had been informed to crash by staff bosses, who had been subsequently banned.
Hamilton gained the 2008 title from Massa after overtaking Toyota’s Timo Glock for fifth place on the final lap of the season’s remaining race, gained by Massa, in Brazil.
Massa didn’t win once more after 2008, with the Brazilian struggling a near-fatal head harm on the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. He retired in 2017.
Reuters
Sports activities content material to make you suppose… or permit you to not. A e-newsletter delivered every Friday.
