Click here to listen<\/a> <\/p>\n\u201cWe will pursue this to the very end in order to achieve a just and fair outcome \u2014 for myself, for motorsport in Brazil, and for the sport as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case centres on the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed under team orders.<\/p>\n
Massa, driving for Ferrari, was leading at the time when Piquet hit the wall at a section of track that guaranteed a safety car, as no cranes were available to remove a damaged car quickly.<\/p>\n
The plan allowed teammate Fernando Alonso, who had just pitted, to benefit from the timing and go on to win the race, while Massa finished outside the points and ultimately lost the world championship to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/XPB_273750_HiRes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Nelson Piquet Jr emerges from his wrecked Renault at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n
Although suspicions of foul play emerged immediately, the FIA did not launch an investigation until Piquet Jr revealed the scheme in 2009. By then, officials ruled it was too late to alter the results.<\/p>\n
Massa\u2019s case, however, hinges on comments made by Ecclestone in a 2023 interview with F1 Insider.<\/p>\n
In it, Ecclestone admitted he and then-FIA president Max Mosley were told about the crash being deliberate shortly after the race but opted against acting on the information.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe decided not to do anything for the time being to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal,\u201d Ecclestone was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the rules\u2026 we would probably have had to annul the race in Singapore in those circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means that, for purposes of the world championship standings, it would never have taken place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen Felipe Massa would have been world champion and not Lewis Hamilton.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ecclestone has since distanced himself from those remarks.<\/p>\n
In his latest comments to The Times, the 94-year-old insisted there had not been enough evidence to pursue an investigation until Piquet Jr came forward the following year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no way in the world anyone could change or cancel that race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMax knew there was not enough evidence at the time to do anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt only started later when young Nelson decided he wanted to say something when he found out he was not going to get a seat for the following year.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also claimed he \u201cdidn\u2019t even remember the bloody interview\u201d with F1 Insider, suggesting it may have been a case of misinterpretation.<\/p>\n
The scandal reshaped Formula 1 in the years that followed, with Renault team principal Flavio Briatore and technical director Pat Symonds both sanctioned \u2014 penalties that were later overturned \u2014 while the team received a suspended two-year exclusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felipe Massa at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Image: XPB Images The 44-year-old is seeking up to $82…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,2061,111963,817,848,813,816,6490,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-171647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bernie-ecclestone","11":"tag-crashgate","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-felipe-massa","14":"tag-formula-1","15":"tag-formula1","16":"tag-slot3","17":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Massa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/XPB_273425_HiRes.jpg\")