Former Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa is seeking compensation for missing out on the 2008 F1 Drivers' Championship, where he finished runner-up by a single point.
The lawyers of the 42-year-old, who was driving for Scuderia Ferrari in 2008, had started legal proceedings against Formula 1 and the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), or the International Automobile Federation, which is the governing body of motorsports.
Massa's lawyers claimed there was an alleged "conspiracy" done by individuals at the highest level of Formula 1, together with the FIA and Formula One Management, denying the former Ferrari driver the 2008 Drivers' Championship.
According to Reuters, a formal eight-page Letter Before Claim, which is required before court proceedings, was sent to Formula One chief executive officer Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem last Tuesday.
Domenicali was notably the team principal of Scuderia Ferrari when Massa narrowly lost out the title in 2008.
"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," the letter read.
It also stated that Massa could not fully quantify his losses at this stage, but the estimated figure will likely exceed tens of millions of Euros. The amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses the 11-time race winner suffered.
The alleged conspiracy could be referring to an incident during the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where Massa was comfortably ahead before Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. intentionally crashed his car to trigger a safety car, which gave his teammate Fernando Alonso an advantage.
Massa left the pitstop with his fuel hose still attached, dropping him to last place as Alonso won the race. The result would prove to be the difference in the championship race.
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Massa lost the 2008 Formula 1 Drivers' championship by a single point
Massa was inches from his first Formula 1 world title at the season-ending 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.
The then-Ferrari driver convincingly won his home race and was already the mathematical champion as he crossed the finish line.
However, as the other cars were about to finish, then-McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton overtook Toyota's Timo Glock in the final corners of the final lap to make the fifth-place finish that he was required to win the first of his joint record seven world titles as of 2023.
The Brazilian never came close again to competing for the title in his remaining years in F1, failing to finish above sixth in the championship standings.
Massa left Ferrari at the end of the 2013 season, and he spent the last four years of his F1 career with Williams Racing before retiring in 2017.
Meanwhile, Hamilton would not win a title again until 2014, the beginning of a period of dominance for him and his new team Mercedes, wherein the Brit claimed six out of the seven Drivers' titles available from 2014 to 2020.
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