A court case could result in Lewis Hamilton losing his first Formula 1 championship.

By one point, Lewis Hamilton won the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship over Felipe Massa.

In the world of Formula 1, drama never lacks, and recently, former racer Felipe Massa made the decision to grab attention by contesting the results of the 2008 World Championship.
See, Massa narrowly lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton by one point, but Massa is prepared to show in court that he was wrongfully denied the victory.
Why not just give Massa this one as a small treat since Hamilton has so many other victories?

Let’s establish some background information.
See, according to Reuters, Massa has asserted that he was “the victim of a conspiracy committed by individuals at the highest level of F1 together with the FIA and Formula One Management.”.
The Crashgate scandal is the reason.

Nelson Piquet Jr. won the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
He purposefully crashed to give his teammate Fernando Alonso a crucial advantage in the race and the championship.
Even though there were early indications of something fishy, it wasn’t until 2009 that widespread conspiracy theories started to surface and the Renault team’s championship-rigging scheme came to light.
At that point, Hamilton had already received the 2008 championship.

Now, the crux of Massa’s defense is his conviction that there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that F1 was well aware that the Singapore Grand Prix crash was deliberate before the 2008 season was over.
In essence, that would imply that F1 decided to wait until it was too late to correct this injustice and affect the outcome of the 2008 title match.

Massa missed out on that title by just one point, so it was a very significant contest.
He is now claiming that he would have won easily if Formula One had addressed Crashgate right away.
When Piquet Jr. entered the race, Massa was actually in the lead. crashed.
Massa’s post-crash stop cost him several positions because at the time, the rules forbade pit stops until all the cars in the race had gathered behind the safety car.
He ultimately finished the race in 13th place, which was well outside of a points-paying finish.

Massa and his attorneys formally informed F1 and the FIA of the start of legal proceedings in a letter sent to them in the middle of August. Massa asserts that losing the championship cost him millions of dollars in earnings and probably had a negative impact on his entire career.

Simply put, Mr.dot Massa is the legitimate 2008 Driver’s Champion, and F1 and FIA willfully disregarded the dishonesty that defrauded him of that title, according to the letter, as quoted by Reuters.
“Mr. At this point, Massa is unable to fully calculate his losses, but he believes they will likely exceed tens of millions of Euros.
The severe moral and reputational losses Mr.dot Massa has endured are not covered by this sum.
“.

The fact that Bernie Ecclestone, a former F1 executive, claimed in a March interview that he knew Nelson Piquet Jr., may not come as a surprise to those familiar with Massa’s legal contention.
‘s crash was premeditated at the time it occurred, but he and FIA chief Max Mosley decided not to act until they were compelled to in 2009.
(For his part, Ecclestone told Reuters that he doesn’t even recall making those comments to the media and that Massa or his legal team hadn’t even contacted Ecclestone.
).

F1 and the FIA had until September 8 to respond to Massa’s letter, which was submitted.
According to Autosport, that time has been moved back to mid-October.

Massa’s 2008 racing team, Ferrari, has declined to take part in the lawsuit.
Lewis Hamilton is a significant ambassador for sport and has consistently defended sporting integrity, so Massa’s attorneys are now hoping that Hamilton will support Massa personally.
I’m hoping he’ll support us because he has an honorary Brazilian citizenship and is well-liked by Brazilians.
There is nothing at all that we have against Hamilton.
“.

Watching this legal dispute unfold will be very interesting. It might be simple for F1 to claim that racing is a fickle mistress and that even if Massa had won the 2008 Singapore GP, there was no guarantee that the rest of his season would have gone as it had; he very well may not have come close to winning the Championship.
Massa might counter that the victory in the race might have given him a boost later in the season.
The outcome is probably going to have a big impact on future highly contentious F1 seasons.