F1 News: Felipe Massa Re-Ignites 2021 Abu Dhabi Questions

Just last week, former F1 driver Felipe Massa broke the news that he was going ahead with legal action against F1 and the FIA for wrongfully denying him the driver's title in 2008. A formal letter was sent out before the claim notice to both parties. The Brazilian driver expects to receive the millions he lost as a result of the scandal that cost him the title, but fans are now starting to question why the 2021 Abu Dhabi result isn't causing the same amount of stir.

The incident occurred during the Singapore Grand Prix in 2008 when Renault was found guilty of ordering team driver Nelson Piquet Junior to crash. This was supposedly done to favour their teammate Fernando Alonso. 

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Due to the crash, Massa, who was in the lead, ended his pit stop prematurely and headed out onto the track with the fuel hose still attached to his Ferrari F1 car, causing him to finish outside of points while Lewis Hamilton finished third and eventually won the championship by a single point over Massa. 

Massa's legal letter read:

“Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 Driver’s Champion, and F1 and FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title."

Calling the result a manipulated one, Massa told The Athletic:

"This is what we are fighting for. This is [why] we get together a group of lawyers to fight because this is the correct thing to do

"We are pretty confident (in) the situation. We will fight them to the end because it was not correct. It was not fair for the sport, what’s happened.”

The punishment that Renault received in the form of a five-year ban on the director of engineering Pat Symonds and a two-year suspended disqualification with then-team boss Flavio Briatore was later overturned. 

Calling the punishment "bull****", Massa said:

“The punishment was no punishment,” Massa said. “Nobody paid for that. For me, this is — sorry for the word — but it is bulls***.”

Speaking about what he hopes to achieve from the legal action, Massa reveals:

“They really understand that it was manipulation. They really understand that it was a race, it happened – a very serious situation like corruption, like manipulation — that is not the correct thing for the sport.

"I really hope they look back, and they fix what was not fair for the sport and for the people.

"I won it, so I need to get the confirmation that that is exactly what’s happened in the correct way.”

Adding to the shocking corruption that has come under light, former F1 group CEO Bernie Ecclestone admitted in an interview to F1 Insider that he and FIA president Max Mosley knew about the Crashgate before it came under the scanner. However, the 92-year-old 'F1 Supremo' denies remembering what he said earlier. 

Massa revealed that it was a big shock to him that people knew about it but remained silent:

“After 15 years, you hear that people knew (and) they didn’t want it to do anything not to destroy Formula One’s name because it was a very serious situation, like Crashgate. So then, it was a big shock.”

A similar incident repeated itself in 2021 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix where a crucial decision by the FIA turned the situation around in favour of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, causing him to win the world title instead of Lewis Hamilton. With the drama of the 2008 season slowly unravelling, fans are questioning whether the Abu Dhabi drama will be inspected as closely.

Of course, this lands on Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton not pushing their argument after the race finished.  

“Both drivers start with equal points into this race; best man in the best machinery wins, and the best man that day didn’t win.

“The interesting phenomenon was that we as a team, and Lewis as a driver, we didn’t get a lot of credit or sympathy because we won so many times. And we became the underdog at that moment.”

They decided not to pursue at the time, but if the 2008 scandal does see some success, could Mercedes begin a similar process? As you'd expect, Hamilton is only looking forward: 

"I'm really just focused on here and now

"[I'm] helping a team get back in the championship race and am not really focused on what happened 15 years ago."