Massa’s $90m ‘crashgate’ case begins in London

Felipe Massa’s lawsuit against Bernie Ecclestone, the FIA, and Formula One Management (FOM) has officially opened at London’s Royal Courts of Justice, coinciding with Ecclestone’s 95th birthday.

The 44-year-old Brazilian is seeking recognition as the rightful 2008 world champion and around $90m in damages, arguing that Formula 1’s authorities failed to properly handle Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

Massa’s legal team claims the FIA “violated its regulations by failing to promptly investigate” the incident and that he “would have won the Drivers’ Championship that year had the proper procedures been followed.”

However, all three defendants are urging the court to dismiss the case. In its submission, the FIA described Massa’s claim as “as torturous as it is overly ambitious,” arguing that his case “overlooks a catalogue of his own errors or those of his team, Ferrari, during the Singapore GP and other races.”

Ecclestone’s lawyer, David Quest KC, called the lawsuit “a misguided attempt to reopen the 2008 Championship,” adding that it was “a sports debate club exercise” that would “deprive Mr Hamilton of his 2008 title even though he too was involved in the accident.”

Representing FOM, Anneliese Day KC said: “It wasn’t the safety-car period that changed the story for Massa, but a series of subsequent racing errors by him and Ferrari. Hamilton outperformed Mr Massa throughout the Singapore GP and the entire 2008 season.”

Massa’s lawyer, Nick di Marco, countered that the defence had not proven the case “lacks any real prospects of success,” maintaining that “Mr Massa has a real chance of success in all respects.”

Judge Sir Robert Jay is hearing arguments this week and is expected to decide by Friday whether the case will proceed or be dismissed.