The 2008 Formula 1 season was one of the most closely contested championships in F1 history with Lewis Hamilton eventually edging out Felipe Massa by a single point to take home his maiden championship. The season saw a few controversial moments including Crashgate. Massa has now explained why the points awarded for the 2008 season need to be revised.
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0:00 - Major Controversy Around Hamilton’s 2008 Championship Win
I'm your host Dillon Shelley and first up on Formula World:
Major Controversy Around Hamilton’s 2008 Championship Win
Former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone made a few startling revelations regarding the 2008 season and the Crashgate incident to F1-Insider
“[The then FIA president] Max [Mosely] and I were informed during the 2008 season about what had happened in the race in Singapore”
“We decided not to do anything for the time being. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal”
Bernie then confirmed that they had enough time to carry out an investigation
“We had enough information in time to investigate the matter”
“According to the statutes, we would have had to cancel the race in Singapore under these conditions”
“That means it would never have [been counted towards] the world championship standings”
“Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton”
He further sympathized with Massa
“I still feel sorry for Massa today. He was cheated out of the title he deserved, while Hamilton had all the luck in the world and won his first championship”
"Today I would have handled it differently”
“That's why, for me, Michael Schumacher is still the sole record world champion. Even if the statistics say otherwise”
Felipe Massa, while speaking to Motorsport, has since given his reaction
“After 15 years, we hear from the former owner of this competition that he had found out about it in 2008, together with the president of the FIA”
“And that they did nothing to avoid tarnishing Formula 1's name”
“That is very disappointing”
“It would be right to expunge the result of that race, that would be the only justice in a scenario like this”
Massa then explained why he hadn’t protested in 2009 when the scandal was publicly acknowledged
“There is a rule that says that when a championship is decided, from the moment the driver receives the champion's trophy, things can no longer be changed”
“Even if it has been proven a theft”
Massa then spoke about what he plans to do
“There are rules that, depending on the country, you can't go back after fifteen years to fix the situation”
“I intend to study this. The outcome, studying what the laws and the rules say...”
“We need to have an idea of what is possible”
“I have no financial interest in this. I go sue the FIA to make money from it, but without changing the result?”
“No. What interests me is just the right justice of this situation”
In what many see as the highly unlikely event of the results of the 2008 Singapore GP being nullified, Massa would become the champion by a margin of 5 points
Do Bernie Ecclestone’s revelations warrant another look at the 2008 championship’s final classifications?
