Bernie Ecclestone believes Felipe Massa was “cheated” out of the Formula 1 title in 2008.
The Brazilian driver lost the championship by just a single point after a dramatic finale at Interlagos, which saw Lewis Hamilton overtake Timo Glock on the final lap to clinch his first F1 title.
However, before then, another major moment of that year had came at the inaugural Singapore Grand Prix… ‘crashgate’.
“Nelson Piquet Jr told his father Nelson that he had been asked by the [Renault] team to drive into the wall at a certain point in order to trigger a Safety Car phase and such to help his teammate [Fernando] Alonso [win],” Ecclestone told F1-Insider recalling the story.
“Piquet Jr was worried about his contract extension, so he was under a lot of pressure and agreed.”
Almost a year later in August 2009, Piquet Jr revealed the truth of what happened in Singapore and team boss Flavio Briatore was given a lifetime ban from F1 by the FIA, as well as a five-year ban for engineering director Pat Symonds.
However, the timeline of what F1 and the FIA knew and when has since shifted after revelations by Ecclestone.
“Max Mosley and I were informed during the 2008 season what had happened in the race in Singapore,” he claimed, with the Brazilian GP that year believed to be the exact time.
“We decided not to do anything,” he explained. “We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.
“That’s why I used angelic tongues to persuade my former driver Nelson Piquet to keep calm for the time being.
“According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions.
“That means it would never have happened for the World Championship standings and Felipe Massa would have become World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”
There is a rule that states a championship result is finalised once the trophy is handed out at the FIA gala.
But upon hearing the story, Massa has revealed he is exploring possible legal options to challenge the result as he seeks “justice”.
“I still feel sorry for Massa today. He won the final at his home race in Sao Paulo and did everything right,” Ecclestone added.
“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 arranged things differently.”
As a result of ‘crashgate’, Bernie concluded: “Michael Schumacher is still the sole record [seven-time] World Champion for me. Even if the statistics say otherwise.”
