Fred Vasseur has confirmed Ferrari is ‘pushing’ the FIA for clarity on the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and that year’s world championship in the wake of Felipe Massa pursuing legal action.
Massa recently sent a Letter Before Claim to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali outlining the perceived injustice of what unfolded in 2008, citing he was “a victim of a conspiracy”.
The Brazilian missed out on the title that year to Lewis Hamilton by one point, with the result of the Singapore GP impacting the outcome of the championship.
Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate crash resulted in a victory for Renault team-mate Fernando Alonso. Hamilton was third and early race leader Massa 13th after a pit stop triggered by the incident which led to him pulling away with the fuel hose still attached to his car.
Massa’s decision to seek an amendment to the championship result has been sparked by comments earlier this year from former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone who said he and former FIA president Max Mosley knew of what had transpired in 2008 before it eventually came to light via comments from Piquet Jr the following year.
The eight-page Letter Before Claim highlights the alleged cover-up, with lawyers representing Massa now seeking millions of euros in damages from lost earnings and bonuses after failing to be crowned champion.
A section of the letter reads: “Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 Driver’s Champion, and F1 and FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title.
“Mr Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage but estimates that they are likely to exceed tens of millions of Euros.
“This amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses suffered by Mr Massa.”
If Ecclestone and Mosley were aware of what had transpired before the season concluded, a decision could have been taken to exclude the Singapore GP from the championship. Hamilton would have lost his third place from the race, so making Massa champion.
Ecclestone has subsequently claimed he has no recollection of the interview he conducted with F1 Insider that has sparked the furore, and the comments he made.
From Ferrari’s perspective, it is simply seeking transparency over the matter, according to team principal Fred Vasseur.
Speaking to invited media, including Speedcafe, in a group interview session ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, Vasseur initially said: “As you can imagine, I don’t want to make any comment on this matter,” when asked about Massa’s legal pursuit.
“I have a good relationship with all the stakeholders, and it’s quite tricky.”
Vasseur is also good friends with Nicolas Todt, who was the manager of Felipe Massa during his F1 career.
The Frenchman then added: “The circumstances were completely exceptional.
“More generally, and not about Felipe, I think we (Ferrari) are also trying to push the FIA to know the result of the event at the chequered flag.
“I don’t want to make any comments but for sure it (changing the result now) will be strange.”
After a long pause, he concluded: “I’m not a big fan to change the result of a race 15 minutes after the chequered flag.”
Massa is now seeking a satisfactory response from F1 and the FIA. Without it, the letter stated the former driver would “pursue legal action in order to seek compensation for the harm he has suffered”.
F1 and the FIA have 14 days to respond from the date of the letter issued on August 15.
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