Bernie Ecclestone has once again weighed in on Felipe Massa’s legal battle on the result of the 2008 World Championship.
Bernie Ecclestone has sided with Lewis Hamilton (Image: GETTY)
Bernie Ecclestone feels Felipe Massa should follow in the footsteps of Lewis Hamilton by letting bygones be bygones following his own championship controversy. Massa has moved ahead with his plan to launch legal action against F1 regarding the result of the 2008 World Championship.
The Brazilian sought legal advice following comments from Ecclestone earlier this year, where he claimed that he and Max Mosley decided against taking any action after learning how Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed in the Singapore Grand Prix, which ultimately cost Massa after pitting from the lead. A fuel hose that was stuck delayed Massa’s stop, sending him to the back of the field while Hamilton finished on the podium.
Massa believes ‘Crashgate’ ultimately stole him of a World Championship and his team of lawyers are already looking at what can be done. Ecclestone has since dismissed Massa’s legal case, admitting he has no recollection of doing the interview where he was quoted looking back at the ‘Crashgate’ scandal.
Massa has not had much support from the inner F1 circle either with Hamilton himself gave a blunt response earlier this summer. The Briton himself felt cheated out of a world title back in 2021 when former FIA race director Michael Masi allowed Max Verstappen to close up to him on fresh tyres with one lap remaining in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
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Felipe Massa has already begun legal proceedings (Image: Getty)
“The Massa clan only cares about money,” Ecclestone told Blick. “But the chances of that happening are zero.
“Hamilton and Mercedes could have filed a lawsuit against the FIA after the not very clean 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi.”
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Hamilton has admitted that “scar” still remains from the 2021 title decider and doubts he will ever truly get over it. “Ultimately that feeling never really truly leaves you,” Hamilton said earlier this year.
“It’s like when you think about your first love, it will always be that first love and first heartbreak.
“Abu Dhabi, the scar is there and there will always be that memory. Even though I reprogrammed my mind, I think it still took me the whole year to really push through it because we were straight back into work. It wasn’t a quick thing.”
