Brazilian law firm says action launched in London\u2019s High Court
\nLONDON
\nFormer Ferrari driver Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One in London\u2019s High Court on Monday seeking damages for missing out on the 2008 world championship title.
\nBrazilian Massa, 42, lost out to Lewis Hamilton by just a single point in a season where the sport was rocked by the \u201ccrashgate\u201d scandal at the Singapore Grand Prix.
\nRenault staged a win for Fernando Alonso by ordering Nelson Piquet Jr to crash in their other car.
\nFerrari\u2019s Massa, leading at the time of Piquet\u2019s smash, finished 13th, before losing the championship by the finest of margins.
\nPiquet revealed the following season that he was under instruction by his bosses to deliberately crash.
\nMassa has also brought proceedings against governing body the FIA, and the sport\u2019s former supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
\nHe is reportedly seeking \u00a362 million ($80 million) in damages to reflect the difference in salary, as well as sponsorship and commercial opportunities he would have received as a world champion.
\nEcclestone confessed in an interview last year that according to the rules, the results from Singapore race should not have stood for the championship standings and as a result, Massa would have been declared champion.
\n\u201cMr. Massa is seeking declarations that the FIA breached its regulations by failing to promptly investigate Nelson Piquet Junior\u2019s crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, and that had it acted properly, Mr. Massa would have won the drivers\u2019 championship that year,\u201d said a statement from Massa\u2019s lawyers.
\n\u201cMr. Massa also seeks damages for the significant financial loss he has suffered due to the FIA\u2019s failure, in which Mr. Ecclestone and FOM (Formula One Management) were also complicit.\u201d
\nThe 2008 title was Hamilton\u2019s first world championship and he has since gone on to match Michael Schumacher\u2019s record of seven world drivers\u2019 titles.
\n\u201cIf that\u2019s the direction that Felipe wants to go, that\u2019s his decision. I prefer not to focus on the past,\u201d said Hamilton when quizzed on the matter last September.
\nMassa did not win another F1 race after 2008 and suffered a near-fatal head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
\nHowever, he returned to the sport and continued racing with Ferrari and then Williams until 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brazilian law firm says action launched in London\u2019s High Court LONDON Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One in London\u2019s High Court on Monday seeking damages for missing out on the 2008 world championship title. Brazilian Massa, 42, lost out to Lewis Hamilton by just a single point in a season […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393394,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-393370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n