Former Formula One driver Felipe Massa has launched legal action, as per The Sun, which could ultimately see Lewis Hamilton stripped of his maiden world title. The Brazilian believes that ‘Crashgate’ prevented him from being world champion way back in 2008, and he should be awarded his rightful crown.

The Brazilian driver has sent FIA chiefs a notice of court proceedings, which suggests that he wants compensation for the 2008 World Championship – that was eventually won by Hamilton.

Why is Felipe Massa launching legal action against Lewis Hamilton?

First of all, we need to go way back to the 2008 season and remember some key moments during the campaign which ultimately led to Hamilton winning his first ever Drivers' Championship at McLaren. Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on purpose to help his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari then messed up Massa’s pit stop – which left him out of the points, despite him leading the race.

Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone revealed earlier this year to F1 Insider that he and then FIA president Max Mosley knew about the incident. He said: “Max Mosley and I were informed during the 2008 season what had happened in the race in Singapore.

“Piquet Junior had told his father Nelson that he had been asked by the team to drive into the wall at a certain point, in order to trigger a Safety Car phase and such to help his teammate Alonso. Piquet Jr was worried about his contract extension, so he was under a lot of pressure and agreed. We decided not to do anything for now. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. That’s why I used angelic tongues to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep calm for the time being.”

The incident that led to the Safety Car ended up leading to Massa’s botched pit stop, where he left the pits with the fuel hose still attached to the car.

Ecclestone added: “According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions. That means it would never have happened for the World Championship standings. Then Felipe Massa would have become World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton. I still feel sorry for Massa today. He won the final at his home race in São Paulo and did everything right. He was cheated out of the title he deserved while Hamilton had all the luck in the world and won his first championship. Today, I would have arranged things differently.”

Due to the surprising revelations, it seems like Massa thinks he has a case and has decided to act in order to try and claim the compensation that he is owed.

What has Massa said in the letter sent to the FIA & F1?

The letter sent to F1 and FIA chiefs says: “Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 Drivers' 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.”

Ecclestone, though, has said he does not remember saying the quotes that are attributed to him, as he told Reuters: “I don’t remember any of this, to be honest. I don’t remember giving the interview, for sure.”

Massa then spoke to Reuters in May, where he said: “If the most important people from Formula One and the FIA knew in 2008 and didn’t do anything, you think what was fair? It’s not fair.”

F1 have not yet responded to the letter, but expect the process to ramp up now the Brazilian has made his legal move. The FIA have responded, however, to acknowledge that they have received the letter. They said: “The matter is under review, and we will not be providing comment at this stage.”

What made matters worse for Massa in 2008 was that Hamilton sneaked in to win the title on the final corner when he overtook Toyota’s Timo Glock to snatch the glory away from Massa. The Brazilian won the final Grand Prix of the season in his home country, but it was not enough as Hamilton’s fifth place finish sealed the points that he needed to triumph.

That was the closest that Massa ever got to a world title, and in the aftermath of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, he was heartbroken to come so close. He said at the time: “It was an emotional day for me. You get here, and you’ve almost done everything perfect, but we saw Lewis passing Glock again and that mixed emotion. Unfortunately, we missed [out] by one point, but that’s racing. We need to be proud of our race and our championship. It’s one more day of our life when I will learn a lot but for sure I’m very emotional.”

After that season, Massa failed to win a single F1 race and the highest he finished in the World Championship standings was sixth. Hamilton, on the other hand, has gone on to win six more world titles in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

In 2007, it had looked like Hamilton would win his maiden title, but he let a title lead slip in the final two races, which saw Kimi Raikkonen earn the crown. He managed to right those wrongs ahead of Massa the following year, however, the story could have been so much different had the Brazilian been treated appropriately.

Massa suffered a horrific head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, and he retired from the sport in 2017 after a 15-year career. The sport has been riddled with controversy over the years, and it is not the only time that the winner of the World Championship has been disputed.

Other F1 controversies with the title on the line

In 2021, Max Verstappen was named World Champion for the first time after he overtook Hamilton at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. A surprising Safety Car restart was issued in Verstappen’s favour, despite Hamilton leading for much of the race.

The Dutchman took advantage with the aid of fresher tyres to storm past the British driver and win his maiden crown. Hamilton and his team Mercedes were furious with the outcome, with Verstappen being the dominant force in the sport ever since.