Felipe Massa’s 2008 F1 title court case taking place this week

Felipe Massa’s bid to seek damages for missing out on the 2008 F1 world title is heading to a UK court this week.

The Brazilian launched legal action against F1 Management, former supremo Bernie Ecclestone, and the FIA, disputing the outcome of the 2008 world championship.

Massa is set to argue that timely action over the ‘Crashgate’ scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix would have resulted in him winning the world championship.

The 2008 world title was won by Lewis Hamilton, who snatched the world championship away from Massa on the final lap of the last race of the season by a single point.

Afterwards, it emerged that Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr had crashed deliberately in Singapore to cause a Safety Car that helped teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.

Renault bosses Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds were banned for their involvement, though the punishments were later overturned and both have since returned to work in the F1 paddock.

Massa believes immediate investigation at the time would have led to the cancellation or adjustment of the Singapore Grand Prix, thus handing him the world title he narrowly missed out on.

The former Ferrari F1 driver is seeking approximately £64m in damages at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Massa’s dispute came after former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone admitted in an interview with German publication F1-Insider that he and then FIA president Max Mosley knew about ‘Crashgate’ but did not take action to protect F1’s image.

Ecclestone claimed his quotes were mistranslated and has also dismissed Massa’s legal action, insisting: “there is no way in the world anyone could change or cancel that race.”

The trial begins on Wednesday and could be decided as early as Friday.