Formula 1 | Lewis Hamilton wants to take away the F1 championship from 15 years ago: “Justice must be done”

F1 series the world championship was decided in the 2008 season only in the last round of the last race.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton passed by Timo Glock’s just a little before the finish line. It ensured fifth place and an extra point for the Briton, thanks to which Hamilton overtook Ferrari in the World Series Felipe Massa.

What made the situation particularly heartbreaking for Massa was that he had finished as the winner of his home race about half a minute earlier, and the team had already told Massa that he was the world champion.

The dispute got even worse when in 2009 it was revealed that the sensational race of the 2008 season in Singapore saw an intentional crash that completely changed the nature of the race. Renault’s Nelson Piquet junior crashed with a stable order on purpose in order to For Fernando Alonso victory could be tacticized.

Behind Alonso, Hamilton was third, but Massa remained without points.

If the matter had been known earlier, within the framework of the rules, the results of the Singapore GP should have been annulled. However, a year later, according to the rules, it was too late to protest.

Based on the new information that has now become public, Massa is seeking justice for the events of 15 years ago.

A nickname The “Crashgate” saga was one of the most talked about cases in F1 for years. The participants were given hefty punishments for that.

F1’s leading man at the time Bernie Ecclestone, 92, reopened the Crashgate can of worms in early March. He gave an interview to F1-Insider, in which he admitted that the International Automobile Federation FIA knew about Renault’s deliberate actions already in the 2008 season. However, the sport bosses decided to keep the matter a secret then.

“For Max Mosley (Chairman of Fia) and I was already told about it during the 2008 season. We knew what was going on in Singapore. Piquet junior had told his father that the team asked him to drive into the wall at a certain point in the race so that the safety car would come on the track,” Ecclestone said.

Senior Nelson Piquet is a three-time F1 world champion. He drove two of his championships in the Brabham team owned by Ecclestone.

“Piquet junior could not say anything about the case publicly because he was worried about his expiring contract. He agreed to keep it a secret. We also put a lot of effort into keeping my former driver Nelson Piquet quiet about it.”

Ecclestone admitted that the results in Singapore should have been annulled during the season. That would have made Massa the champion. However, he and Mosley made a cold decision.

“We decided not to do anything. We wanted to protect the sport and protect it from a big scandal. At that time, the rule was that the World Championship points would not be touched again after the annual FIA award gala had been held. Hamilton got his World Cup trophy and everything was fine.”

Mass said recently For Autosport, that the interview given by Ecclestone shook him awake. He wants to find out if he can still be given the world title.

“At that time Ferrari’s lawyers told me that nothing could be done. Other lawyers also said the same. Of course I believed this. But now, 15 years later, we learn that the bosses of the series already knew about it during the season. They didn’t do anything because they wanted to protect F1,” Massa told Autosport.

“This is really sad. We now know that the results of the race should have been annulled and could have been annulled. I’d be world champion. I was the one who suffered the most from this situation. We want to clarify the matter.”

At the same time, the Brazilian admitted that reversing the results 15 years later is highly unlikely. None of the existing regulations gives Massa any hope. However, he wants to get to the bottom of the matter.

“I want to look into this and find out what the law and regulations say. We must have a clear understanding of what can be done. My motive is not financial. I want justice. I was punished for something I had nothing to do with. This was a robbery, a stolen race. Justice must be done.”

Mass according to the only fair solution to the situation is the annulment of the results of the 2008 Singapore GP. The Brazilian says that it is not at all unusual in other sports to change the final results when cheating has been revealed years later.

“Lance Armstrong’s was proven to have cheated and he lost all his titles. What is the difference between these situations?”

Even in athletics, for example, prestigious competition medals have been redistributed years later after reanalysis of doping samples.