The 2008 Formula One drivers’ championship is one of Lewis Hamilton’s crowning achievements, his first of a record-tying seven world titles.
Nearly two decades later, the championship result is the center of a lawsuit filed by Felipe Massa, the 2008 runner-up.
In March 2024, Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One, Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)—the sport’s governing body—and former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, claiming an incident at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix known as “Crashgate” cost him the drivers’ championship. The former Ferrari driver, who never won an F1 drivers’ championship, lost the 2008 title by one point to Hamilton.
Massa is not requesting an official change in the 2008 F1 championship results, but he is seeking $80 million (about 60 million pounds) in compensation for lost prize money and potential bonuses that would have come had he secured the world title.
He is also seeking a “declaration” from the FIA that it breached its own regulations by not immediately investigating the crash, and that an investigation would have led to “cancelled or adjusted” results for the Singapore Grand Prix and resulted in Massa winning the drivers’ championship.
The initial hearings started Tuesday in the High Court of London and will run until Oct. 31.
What Is ‘Crashgate?’
On Sept. 28, 2008, in Singapore, Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed into a wall during the 14th lap of the 61-lap race, resulting in a safety car that helped teammate Fernando Alonso secure his first win of the season. Hamilton finished in third place, while Massa did not score, finishing in 13th. He needed to finish at least seventh to score enough points to beat Hamilton by season’s end.
Ferrari also committed its own error that also factored into Massa failing to score points. During a pit stop, Massa was given the green light despite the fuel hose still being attached to the car, which put him in last place. He was also handed a time penalty for an unsafe release.
The following year, Piquet Jr., who originally told the FIA that his crash was an error on his part, admitted that he deliberately crashed following team instructions. Renault executives Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds received bans from F1.
They would eventually return, though, and Briatore now runs the Alpine team.
The 2008 incident is one of the most notorious in F1 history, and it was even used as inspiration for a key scene in the 2025 F1 movie, according to lead actor Brad Pitt.
Why Now?
In March 2023, Ecclestone, the former F1 CEO, told F1 Insider that he was informed by Nelson Piquet Sr., three-time world champion and father of Piquet Jr., that Renault told Piquet Jr. to deliberately crash to trigger the safety car and help Alonso win the race.
Ecclestone said they didn’t take immediate action to “protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.” He also admitted that if not for the crash, Massa would have been the champion instead of Hamilton.
In an interview with Reuters five months later, Ecclestone, who was 92 at the time, said he didn’t remember making those comments or even having an interview with F1 Insider. The British man has since said his comments were misinterpreted because of a language difference with the German outlet.
Regardless of interpretation, the published comments triggered Massa to pursue legal action against Ecclestone and F1.
“When we heard Bernie’s comment last year, after that we started to put things together, and we started to fight, to analyse things In the professional, legal way because it was not part of the sport,” Massa told RacingNews365.
“We’ve been waiting so long now for justice, we have to hope the truth comes out and there will be justice.”
