Formula 1 can sometimes turn out to be the most brutal sport. One moment of bad luck can ruin the hard work you and your team put in over the course of one year. But that is the nature of this sport. It’s a great ego killer. Never can you rest on your laurels and expect things to just fall in place for you. Lewis Hamilton learned it the hard way in 2021 when an erroneous call stood in his way of securing the 8th world title. Felipe Massa learned it the hard way when a moment of dishonesty on his countryman Nelson Piquet Jr’s part stood in his way of securing his first and only world championship. The difference between the two incidents is the fact that Hamilton took it on his chin and started working on his next campaign.
Earlier last month, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone made an explosive revelation. He told that he was aware of Piquet Jr’s intentional crash at the 2008 Singapore GP when it happened. But he did nothing about it because he did not want to tarnish the sport’s reputation. Massa, who lost the championship to Hamilton that year by 1 point, said he will look into the available legal options he might have to claim the championship.
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Discussing the issue on a recent episode of Late Braking F1 Podcast, co-host Sam said, “I think he (Hamilton) said before this came out, ‘I wouldn’t go back and challenge the decision of the 2021 championship because that isn’t how I want to win the championship. That decision’s been done, it’s hurt, it was upsetting. But I want to move on now. It’s happened. I don’t want to win the world title in a courtroom. That’s not quite how I want to do it’. So I was surprised that Massa isn’t thinking the same way.”
Read More: George Russell Trashes F1’s $240,000,000 Attempt at Hyping Up Las Vegas GP With Brutal “Animal” Jibe
Sam’s co-host Ben agreed with him but felt the whole situation was a sad one.
Felipe Massa was slammed for basing his opinion on the word of an untrustworthy source
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
During his years in F1 and even to this day, Bernie Ecclestone has often found himself in trouble for being a loudmouth. Moreover, he admitted to not doing anything despite knowing well about the incident infamously now known as “crashgate”. Is he really the man Massa wants to trust before getting himself into a legal soup?
Ben continued, “The source here is Bernie Ecclestone. Realistically, there’s only two people who are going to be in the know enough about this. One of them is Bernie Ecclestone. The other is Max Mosley (then FIA boss) who sadly passed away. And of the two, I trust Max Mosley’s word of it more than Bernie Ecclestone. I mean he’s no longer with us. That should tell you how much I trust Bernie Ecclestone.”
ADVERTISEMENT
Article continues below this ad
Watch This Story: How the 2023 Australian GP Chaos Unfolded in Melbourne?
Do you think Massa will go ahead with a legal battle for something that happened 15 years ago that he cannot put past himself?