Felipe Massa could take legal action to take back 2008 F1 world title from Lewis Hamilton

Felipe Massa is exploring legal options to challenge the controversial outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 world championship following bombshell comments from the sport’s former boss Bernie Ecclestone.

The ex-Ferrari star lost that year’s title to McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton by just one point on the final lap of the season’s final race, in one of the most thrilling finishes in F1 history.

However, Massa’s title hopes had already taken a huge blow in Singapore, the 15th of the 18 races held that season.

That race is remembered for the ‘Crashgate’ affair – one of the biggest cheating scandals in the sport’s recent history.

The Renault team had planned for Nelson Piquet to deliberately put his car against the wall to bring out a safety car for teammate Fernando Alonso to take advantage of.

The 2008 Singapore race is remembered for the ‘Crashgate’ affair, where Renault planned to deliberately crash Nelson Piquet to release a safety car (pictured)

Masa, who was leading the race at the time, pitted under the safety car, but a problematic stop eventually saw him back to 13th, with Alonso winning and Hamilton third.

Ahead of the Singapore race, Hamilton led Massa by just one point and then walked away with a seven-point lead.

Massa now claims the Singapore race cost him the 2008 title.

The following year, the cheating scandal came to light when Piquet revealed that his team had instructed him to crash on purpose.

Now new comments from Ecclestone indicate F1’s top management knew about the Renault conspiracy ‘during the 2008 season’ when there would have been time to reverse the final result.

“We have decided not to do anything for now,” he told German website F1 Insider.

“We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.

“At the time, there was a rule that a World Cup standings after the FIA ​​awards ceremony at the end of the year was untouchable. So Hamilton got the trophy and everything was fine.

Massa now claims the Singapore race’s controversial finish cost him the 2008 title – and a legal challenge could be at stake

Now new comments from Ecclestone indicate he knew about the Renault conspiracy ‘during the 2008 season’ when there would have been time to reverse the final result (Massa is pictured at a race in Brazil in 2008)

“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have canceled the race in Singapore under these circumstances.

That means it would never have happened before the championship. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.’

When the bombshell claims were filed with Massa, he said he would consider a legal challenge.

“There’s a rule that when a championship is decided, once the driver receives the championship trophy, things can’t be changed, even if it’s proven to be a theft,” he said.

“Ferrari’s lawyers told me about this rule at the time. We went to other lawyers and the answer was that nothing could be done. So I logically believed in this situation.

“But after 15 years we hear that the [former] category owner says he found out in 2008, along with the president of the FIA, and they did nothing [so as] not to tarnish the name of F1.

Bernie Ecclestone says he wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal when Crashgate was tackled

“This is very sad, to know that the result of this race would be canceled and that I would have a title. In the end I was the one who lost the most with this result. So we’re going after it to understand all this.’

Massa acknowledges he may not have much luck changing a result after nearly 15 years, but he is still interested in finding out what his chances are.

“There are rules and there are a lot of things that, depending on the country, you can’t reverse after 15 years to fix a situation,” he said.

‘But I intend to study the situation; study what the laws say, and the rules. We need to have an idea of ​​what’s possible.’