{"id":274182,"date":"2025-11-20T19:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/274182\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T19:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T19:58:12","slug":"felipe-massas-64m-claim-over-crashgate-can-go-to-trial-rules-judge-felipe-massa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/274182\/","title":{"rendered":"Felipe Massa\u2019s \u00a364m claim over Crashgate can go to trial, rules judge | Felipe Massa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Felipe Massa\u2019s \u00a364m claim against Formula One, its governing body, the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone over Lewis Hamilton\u2019s first F1 world championship <\/a>in 2008 can go to trial, a high court judge has ruled.<\/p>\n

Massa claims he is the rightful champion as the Brazilian eventually lost by a single point after Nelson Piquet Jr had deliberately crashed<\/a> at the Singapore Grand Prix. Ecclestone, who was F1\u2019s impresario for four decades before he was deposed in 2017, suggested in 2023 that the sport\u2019s executives were aware of the cover-up \u2013 which became known as Crashgate \u2013 before the 2008 campaign concluded. The 95-year-old Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One Management are defending the claims.<\/p>\n

Last month, they asked the court in London to throw out the case, saying that Massa performed poorly at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, ultimately leading to him losing the championship, and arguing that the claim had been brought too late.<\/p>\n

In a written judgment handed down on Thursday, Mr Justice Jay said the case could go ahead. He said that Massa had \u201cno real prospect of establishing that the FIA\u2019s duties were owed to him\u201d, but that \u201che does have a real prospect of proving at trial all the components of his unlawful means conspiracy\u201d. \u201cThe same analysis applies to the inducement claim,\u201d Jay said.<\/p>\n

In the ruling, he dismissed part of Massa\u2019s claim, saying he had \u201creached the firm conclusion that it is clear that declaratory relief would not be granted in this case\u201d. <\/p>\n

At a hearing in October, the court heard that as part of his claim, Massa was also seeking various declarations regarding the FIA\u2019s conduct. Jay said: \u201cIn my judgment, Mr Massa is not entitled to claim declaratory relief for reputational or publicity reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe present claim cannot, of course, rewrite the outcome of the 2008 drivers\u2019 world championship, but if declaratory relief along the lines sought were granted that is how Mr Massa would present his victory to the world and it is also how it would be perceived by the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second declaration is in the terms that were it not for the FIA\u2019s breaches of duty, Mr Massa would have won the championship: in other words, that he should have won the championship. The FIA, as an international sporting body outside the reach of this court, could and would simply ignore any such declaration.<\/p>\n

Ferrari\u2019s Felipe Massa celebrates claiming pole position at the Marina Bay Circuit Park in Singapore in 2008. Photograph: David Davies\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cThat underscores its lack of practical utility, but the declaration comes too close in my view to impinging on the right of the FIA to govern its own affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Renault staged a win for Fernando Alonso<\/a> by ordering Piquet to crash<\/a>, which brought out a safety car and meant Massa, who was leading the race for Ferrari, finished in 13th after his strategy was compromised. The following season, Piquet revealed he had been under instruction by his bosses to crash deliberately.<\/p>\n

Massa\u2019s lawyers claim Ecclestone knew the crash was deliberate and that he and the FIA failed to investigate it. At the October hearing, Nick De Marco KC, for Massa, said in written submissions that the defendants could not \u201cestablish that Mr Massa\u2019s claims have no real prospect of success\u201d.<\/p>\n

Adding that Massa had \u201ca real prospect of succeeding on all of the grounds\u201d, he said the matter should go to a full trial.<\/p>\n

David Quest KC, for Ecclestone, said Massa\u2019s claims were \u201ca misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers\u2019 championship\u201d. John Mehrzad KC, for the FIA, said Massa\u2019s claim is \u201ctorturous as it is overly ambitious\u201d and \u201cconspicuously overlooks a catalogue of his own errors\u201d. Anneliese Day KC, for Formula One<\/a> Management, said in written submissions that the claim would \u201cfail\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Felipe Massa\u2019s \u00a364m claim against Formula One, its governing body, the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone over Lewis Hamilton\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-274182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}