Reunited with his 2008 Ferrari at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Felipe Massa quipped that year was Ferrari’s last championship, and “also mine’.
Massa made a nostalgic return to the cockpit of the Ferrari F2008 at Goodwood on Saturday, putting the car through its paces on the hill climb.
Felipe Massa wants his claim as ‘rightful’ 2008 World Champion recognised
The F2008 delivered Ferrari’s last piece of championship silverware as the Brazilian and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen secured the Constructors’ title ahead of McLaren.
Massa missed out on the World title by a single point, losing to Lewis Hamilton at the season finale where the Brazilian was World Champion for all of 28 seconds.
The legality of that World title in now in the hands of the United Kingdom’s High Court, with the trial slated for October.
Massa, interviewed at Goodwood, couldn’t resist a playful dig.
“It’s just an amazing feeling to drive the 2008 car after a long time,” Massa said. “This was definitely my best year. A car that we managed to win five times, you know.
“It was the last Constructors’ Championship of Ferrari.”
He added with a smile: “Also mine, I would say.”
After a few chuckles, he added: “But anyway, it’s just an amazing moment, you know, to be here in Goodwood, to see all of these amazing people. And it’s a great feeling to drive again this car after a long time.”
Massa has launched legal action against Formula One Management (FOM), the FIA, and former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone over the F1 2008 World title in light of that year’s Singapore Grand Prix.
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The case centres around the infamous Crashgate scandal where Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to deliberately crash by Renault to trigger a Safety Car that would help his team-mate Fernando Alonso.
In the chaos that followed, Massa had a botched pit stop that dropped him from the lead outside of the points.
But while the scandal only came to light the following year, Ecclestone admitted in 2023 that he and then FIA president Max Mosley already knew the year that it happened.
“According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under those conditions,” Ecclestone told F1-Insider. “That means it would never have happened for the world championship standings.
“Then Felipe Massa would have become World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton… today I would have arranged things differently.”
Massa is seeking financial compensation and official recognition of his claim that he is the “rightful” 2008 F1 World Champion.
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