Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has claimed the team attempted to silence him in 2009 after raising doubts over Fernando Alonso\u2019s knowledge of the Crashgate scandal.<\/p>\n
Massa is contesting the outcome of the 2008 world championship, with the former F1 driver\u2019s long-awaited legal case beginning at the High Court in London earlier this week.<\/p>\n
Felipe Massa reveals Ferrari \u2018reprimand\u2019 over Fernando Alonso Crashgate comments<\/p>\n
Massa, who is seeking up to $82million (\u00a360m\/\u20ac68.7m) in damages, famously missed out on the 2008 title to Lewis Hamilton, then of McLaren, by a single point at the final race of the season in Brazil.<\/p>\n
The title decider in Massa\u2019s hometown of Sao Paulo came just weeks after the Singapore Grand Prix, the scene of the infamous Crashgate scandal, where Renault instructed its driver Nelson Piquet Jr to crash deliberately in order to help teammate Alonso to victory.<\/p>\n
Massa, who was leading the race at the time of Piquet\u2019s accident, went on to finish a distant 13th in Singapore with the lost points proving costly in his title battle with Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Could Felipe Massa actually win $82million legal case?<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0From Crashgate to courtroom: A deep dive into Felipe Massa\u2019s $82 million lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49\u00a0Trouble in the pits: The 12 biggest pit-lane incidents in Formula 1 history<\/a><\/p>\n Massa announced his intention to take legal proceedings against the FIA, the sport\u2019s commercial rights holder Formula One Management and former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone \u2013 all of whom deny the claims \u2013 in 2023.<\/p>\n It came hot on the heels after an interview Ecclestone gave to German publication F1 Insider, in which he revealed that he and then-FIA president Max Mosley, who died in 2021, were made aware of the true circumstances behind the Singapore Grand Prix scandal during the 2008 season.<\/p>\n Mr Ecclestone went on to admit the sport\u2019s authorities opted to take no action at the time to protect F1 from \u201ca huge scandal\u201d, expressing his sympathy that Massa was \u201ccheated out of the title he deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n Alonso spent four seasons as Massa\u2019s teammate at Ferrari between 2010 and 2013 having replaced Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, at the end of the 2009 season.<\/p>\n Alonso arrived at Ferrari after Massa, who suffered a head injury in an accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, claimed that year that the Spaniard was aware that Piquet\u2019s crash at the previous season\u2019s Singapore Grand Prix was deliberate.<\/p>\n Alonso, still competing in F1 with the Aston Martin team, has always maintained that he had no knowledge of Renault\u2019s plot to fix the race, with the FIA finding no wrongdoing on his part.<\/p>\n In his witness statement this week, Massa claimed that he received a letter from Ferrari in late 2009 \u201creprimanding\u201d him for his comments about his future teammate.<\/p>\n Massa went on to reveal that he \u201crefused\u201d to publish a statement drafted for him by Ferrari.<\/p>\n Massa wrote: \u201cIn October 2009 I also told journalists that I believed Fernando Alonso (the other Renault driver who won because of Nelson\u2019s crash) knew it was on purpose.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Ferrari found out, GSA (the firm who handled the team\u2019s contracts) wrote me a letter on 16 October 2009 reprimanding me about making public comments about Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n \u201cI found out before my accident in July 2009 that Alonso would drive for Ferrari in the 2010 F1 season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe letter was signed by Henry Peter (a Ferrari lawyer).<\/p>\n \u201cFerrari then drafted a statement for me to issue but I refused to make that statement.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead, I just said that it was time to look to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n