Felipe Massa seeks $82m over ‘Crashgate’ as Bernie Ecclestone denies any cover-up

Felipe Massa is pursuing $82 million in damages over the 2008 ‘Crashgate’ scandal, as former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone denies any attempt to cover up Renault’s actions during the Singapore Grand Prix.

The 11-time F1 grand prix winner will make his first appearance in the High Court in London on October 28.

Massa opened legal proceedings following comments made by Ecclestone to German publication F1 Insider over ‘Crashgate’.

Renault manipulated the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by ordering Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately.

Piquet’s crash led to a Safety Car, which effectively handed Renault teammate Fernando Alonso the win.

The Safety Car ruined Massa’s chances of winning and led to a Ferrari pit stop blunder.

Massa is arguing that without that, he would have beaten Lewis Hamilton to the 2008 F1 title.

In an interview with The Times, Massa stressed his desire for “accountability” to avoid “future fraud” in F1.

“Accountability is key to preventing future fraud,” Massa said.

“Those entrusted with protecting the sport directly violated their duties, and they cannot be allowed to benefit from concealing their own misconduct.

“Such conduct is unacceptable in any sphere of life, especially in a sport followed by millions, including children.

“We will pursue this to the very end in order to achieve a just and fair outcome - for myself, for motorsport in Brazil, and for the sport as a whole.”

Ecclestone’s view

Massa’s decision to take legal action came after Ecclestone’s suggestion that he and former FIA president Max Mosley were aware of what happened in Singapore.

Ecclestone has since claimed his comments were mis-translated.

The 94-year-old also questioned how Massa’s case could even be “heard in court”.

“This was an interview I gave to someone in Germany,” Ecclestone explained to The Times.

“And the guy at the time, his English wasn’t that good and he was taking notes, and it was picked up by someone in England.

“The lawyers for myself, the FIA and F1 do not understand how it can be heard in a court.”

The ex-F1 boss also denied suggestions that they covered it up.

“There is no way in the world anyone could change or cancel that race,” he added.

“There is always something going on where someone would like to cancel it if they could.

“To try to persuade the president of the FIA to call a special meeting where the FIA would have to cancel the race — there were no provisions for that to happen.

“Max knew there was not enough evidence at the time to do anything.

“It only started later when young Nelson decided he wanted to say something when he found out he was not going to get a seat for the following year.

“Max was not saying we should cover this up but just that it was not good for the image of Formula 1.”