Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is ready to take the FIA to court to ask that he be awarded the 2008 world championship for drivers which he lost to Lewis Hamilton.
The Brazilian was prompted by the recent statements by former circus patron Bernie Ecclestone who admitted that he had not applied the regulation and therefore canceled the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. In that race, Nelsinho Piquet voluntarily triggered an accident to let him enter the track a safety car in order to allow his team-mate at the time in Renault, Fernando Alonso to win the race. The safety car forced Massa to make a pit stop who rejoined the track 13th, while main title rival Hamilton finished third.
In an interview with Motorsport.com, Massa said he wanted to appeal "not for the money but to get justice ".
Again: «They told me that I could not appeal after the proclamation of the champion, even if it is proven that it is theft. At the time, Ferrari's lawyers told me about this rule. So logically I believed in this situation. But after 15 years, I feel that the patron of F1 discovered this in 2008, together with the president of the FIA, and they did nothing not to sully the name of Formula 1. It is very sad to know that the result of this race had to be canceled and that I would have the title. In the end, I was the one who lost the most with this result. The right solution is to cancel the result of that race. It's the only justice that can be done in a case like this. We've seen other similar situations happen before in sports, such as Lance Armstrong being shown to be on drugs, and losing all the titles. What is the difference? ».
