Helmut Marko has continued Red Bull’s war of words with Mercedes by backing Felipe Massa’s legal battle on the 2008 World Championship.
Helmut Marko wants to see Felipe Massa given the 2008 title (Image: GETTY)
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has lent his support to Felipe Massa in his bid to steal the 2008 World Championship from Lewis Hamilton, mocking the Brit for his recent comments on not caring about statistics. Massa’s legal battle regarding the result of the 2008 World Championship has largely been ignored by those inside the F1 paddock with Hamilton himself not concerned about the Brazilian’s attempts.
Meanwhile, Hamilton and Toto Wolff have sparked a war of words with Red Bull after the seven-time world champion took aim at Max Verstappen’s level of team-mates in his career. The British racing driver also brushed off Verstappen’s bid to win a record 10th consecutive race ahead of the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month.
“I mean I don’t care about statistics in general,” Hamilton said. “Good for him.”
Marko appears to have used those comments from Hamilton against him by lending his support to Massa’s legal battle. The Red Bull advisor feels Massa has a good case to challenge the result of the 2008 World Championship if his team of lawyers are able to find new evidence.
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Felipe Massa wants to be given the 2008 World Championship title (Image: Getty)
“It was terrible to see Massa celebrating for 20 seconds that he had won the title in Brazil, and then suddenly it was all gone,” Marko told Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung. “I would love to see him win the title – and Hamilton, for whom records are not so important, would then have one less.”
Marko was surprised at how long it took for ‘Crashgate’ to be exposed from the Singapore Grand Prix. However, the Red Bull chief’s main concern about Massa’s legal battle is whether it will open up a can of worms.
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“Even the choice of lap for the stop was suspicious,” he added. “Afterwards, it was an open secret. I just wondered why it took so long for this matter to come to light.
“If there are new facts, then the case can be solved. And then the chances for Massa are not so bad. The only question is, where would we end up if we have to re-evaluate many other races where incidents have also occurred?”
Massa’s lawyers recently called on support from Hamilton in their case to overturn the result of the 2008 World Championship.
“We have nothing against him, on the contrary he is an important ambassador of sport throughout the world and has always defended sporting integrity,” Bernardo Viana told Reuters. “He is also well-liked in Brazil as an honorary citizen, so I hope he will make us feel his support.”
