Full story (9 min): https://youtu.be/lIqJWgIh76Q
This crash was planned. It cost another driver the world title.
Singapore, 28 September 2008. Felipe Massa was leading from pole when Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on lap 14. His team had told him to, so the safety car would help his teammate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win. Massa pitted from the lead on lap 17, and Ferrari released him with the fuel hose still attached. He dragged it down the pit lane, finished 13th and scored no points. Five weeks later, in Brazil, he lost the championship to Lewis Hamilton, 98 points to 97. In a 2023 interview, Bernie Ecclestone, who ran Formula One for nearly 40 years, said he knew about the crash during the 2008 season and did nothing. In March 2024 Massa filed a claim in London’s High Court for 64 million pounds. In November 2025 the judge refused to declare him champion, and ruled that his conspiracy claim can go to trial. The appeal against that ruling is listed at the UK Supreme Court for 2 and 3 February 2027.
Footage credits:
– Formula 1 world feed of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix (Piquet’s Renault hitting the wall): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9M2T5ROJrU
– Formula 1 world feed of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix (Massa’s Ferrari with the fuel hose): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fJpwoXFMQ
– Bernie Ecclestone photo (Bahrain, 2012): Ryan Bayona / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 (cropped, halftoned): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bernie_Ecclestone_2012_Bahrain.jpg
Sources:
– Wikipedia, 2008 Singapore Grand Prix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Singapore_Grand_Prix
– Wikipedia, Crashgate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crashgate
– High Court judgment, Massa v Formula One Management and others, [2025] EWHC 3064 (KB): https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Felipe-Massa-v-Formula-One-and-others.pdf
– UK Supreme Court, case UKSC/2026/0034: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-2026-0034
– Sky Sports, Massa’s £64m claim can go to trial (21 Nov 2025): https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12040/13473307/felipe-massa-former-ferrari-f1-drivers-lb64m-claim-over-lewis-hamiltons-2008-world-championship-can-go-to-trial
– PlanetF1, Ecclestone on the 2008 title (5 Apr 2023): https://www.planetf1.com/news/bernie-ecclestone-lewis-hamilton-lucky-2008-title
#F1 #FelipeMassa #Crashgate
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