Massa’s lawsuit over 2008 F1 title to go to trial

Former driver Felipe Massa’s £64 million ($84  million) claim against Formula One, its governing body the FIA and the sport’s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone can go to trial, a judge ruled on Thursday.

At the centre of the trial will be Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula One world title in 2008, with Brazilian driver Massa claiming he was the rightful winner of the championship.

Massa lost the title by a point after Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed at the Singapore race.

Massa claims that the crash, which gifted victory to team-mate Fernando Alonso by causing an early safety car, changed the course of the title race because Ferrari’s title contender dropped down the order in a pitstop and eventually lost the championship to Hamilton by one point.

Ecclestone, who headed F1 for four decades until 2017, suggested in 2023 that the sport’s executives were aware of the cover-up before the 2008 season finished.

Justice Robert Jay said that while the court has the power to award damages to Massa, it cannot overturn the results of the 2008 season, so the case will not have an impact on Hamilton’s title.

Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One Management are defending the claims.

Last month, they asked the High Court in London to dismiss the case, arguing that Massa’s poor drive in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix ultimately led to him losing the championship.

They also argued that the claim had been brought too late.

In a written judgement handed down on Thursday, Justice Jay said the case could go ahead.

He said Massa had “no real prospect of establishing that the FIA’s duties were owed to him”, but that “he does have a real prospect of proving at trial all the components of his unlawful means conspiracy”.

At a hearing in October, Massa’s barrister Nick De Marco said in written submissions that the defendants could not “establish that Mr Massa’s claims have no real prospect of success”.

He argued that Massa had “a real prospect of succeeding on all of the grounds” and the case should therefore go to a full trial.

In a statement, the FIA said that although the trial was going ahead, it would be based on “significantly narrowed grounds”.

David Quest, a barrister representing Ecclestone, said Massa’s claims were “a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship”.