Massa faces wait to see if £64m claim over 2008 F1 title will be thrown out

Ex-Formula One driver Felipe Massa faces a wait to find out if his £64 million legal claim against former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One Management, and its governing body the FIA, can go ahead.

The Brazilian driver claims he is the rightful winner of the 2008 world championship, which he lost to Lewis Hamilton by a single point after a deliberate crash by a third driver at the Singapore Grand Prix earlier in the season.

Massa is bringing claims for breach of contract or duty, with his lawyers saying Mr Ecclestone knew the crash involving Nelson Piquet Jr was deliberate, and that he and the FIA failed to investigate it.

Mr Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One Management are defending the claims, and asked the High Court in London to throw out the case.

On Friday, after a three-day hearing, Mr Justice Jay said: “Judgment will be reserved to be handed down at a future date.”

At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix Renault staged a win for Fernando Alonso by ordering his teammate Piquet to crash, which brought out a safety car and meant Massa, who was leading the race for Ferrari, finished in 13th with no points after his strategy was compromised.

In the confusion following the incident, Massa drove away prematurely from a pit stop with a fuel hose still attached to his car, knocking down a member of his team and driving into the path of another car.

The following season, Piquet revealed he had been under instruction by his bosses to crash deliberately.

Mr Ecclestone, who was the boss of F1 for four decades before he was deposed in 2017, suggested in 2023 that the sport’s executives were aware of the cover-up before the 2008 campaign concluded.

On Wednesday, lawyers for the defendants said Massa performed poorly in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, ultimately leading to him losing the championship.

They also said the claim had been brought too late.

In written submissions, Mr Ecclestone’s lawyer David Quest KC said Massa’s claims “are a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 Drivers’ Championship”.

Massa, who attended the hearing, is claiming damages for loss of earnings and sponsorship.

He is also seeking declarations that the FIA acted in breach of its own regulations, and that if it had not done so, it would have cancelled or adjusted the results of the Singapore Grand Prix and he would have won the Drivers’ Championship.

Nick De Marco KC, for Massa, said in written submissions that the defendants “cannot establish that Mr Massa’s claims have no real prospect of success”, and argued that the case should go to a full trial.

He said on Friday that the declarations Massa seeks are the “most effective means of doing justice in his case”.