What's the latest with Felipe Massa's £64m F1 2008 title claim?
Felipe Massa faces wait on his £64m legal claim over the 2008 F1 world championship.
Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa will have to wait to see if his ongoing legal claim against ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One Management and the FIA can continue.
Massa is seeking £64m in damages for loss of earnings and sponsorship, arguing that the ‘Crashgate’ scandal at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix denied him the world championship that year.
Following a three-day hearing, Mr Justice Jay confirmed on Friday that: "Judgment will be reserved to be handed down at a future date.”
Massa was leading the race when Renault’s Nelson Piquet deliberately crashed to cause a Safety Car which helped teammate Fernando Alonso win.
The Brazilian pitted during the Safety Car but Ferrari botched his stop and he ended up finishing outside of the points in 13th.
Massa would go on to lose the 2008 world championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point at the final race of the season in Brazil.
Massa claims a breach of contract or duty, with he and his lawyers arguing that Ecclestone knew the crash was deliberate and that he and the FIA failed to investigate it.
The 44-year-old’s case rests on an interview Ecclestone gave to F1-Insider in 2023, in which he suggested that he and then-FIA president Max Mosley were aware of the cover-up and decided not to act.
Ecclestone insists he does not remember giving the interview to the German publication.
Massa, who attended the hearing in London, believes the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix would have been cancelled or adjusted if action had been taken at the time, resulting in him winning the drivers’ world championship.
Lawyers for the defendants argue that Massa knew enough to sue in 2008 and 2009, meaning the claim has been brought too late.
Ecclestone’s lawyer David Quest said Massa and Ferrari’s mistakes cost him the title in 2008, rather than the Singapore Grand Prix.
Quest described Massa’s arguments as a “misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 Drivers’ Championship”.
Massa’s lawyer said in written submissions that the defendants “cannot establish that Mr Massa's claims have no real prospect of success”, arguing that the case should go to a full trail.
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