Felipe Massa, former Formula 1 driver, was runner-up in the world championship in 2008 by a single point.
A High Court judge has ruled that the £64 million lawsuit filed by former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa against F1, its governing body, the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone, can go to trial.
The legal action focuses on Lewis Hamilton’s first Formula 1 world championship in 2008, and Brazilian Massa claims to be the rightful winner of the title.
Massa lost by a single point after Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed in the Singapore Grand Prix.
Ecclestone, who was the head of F1 for four decades before being ousted in 2017, suggested in 2023 that the sport’s executives knew about the cover-up before the 2008 campaign concluded.
Ecclestone, the FIA and Formula One Management are defending the claims.
Last month, they asked the London court to dismiss the case, arguing that Massa performed poorly at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, which ultimately caused him to lose the championship, and claiming that the claim had been filed too late.
In a written ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Jay said the case could proceed.
He said that Massa “doesn’t have a real prospect of establishing that the FIA’s duties were owed to him”, but that “he does have a real prospect of proving in court all the components of his conspiracy by illicit means”.
“The same analysis applies to the inducement claim,” said Judge Jay.
In the ruling, he dismissed part of Massa’s claim, saying that he had “reached the firm conclusion that it is clear that declaratory relief would not be granted in this case”.
In an October hearing, the court heard that, as part of his claim, Massa was also seeking several statements regarding the FIA’s conduct.
Judge Jay said: “In my judgment, Mr. Massa is not entitled to claim declaratory relief for reasons of reputation or publicity.”
“This claim, of course, cannot rewrite the result of the 2008 World Drivers’ Championship, but if a declaratory remedy were granted on the terms requested, this is how Mr. Massa would present his victory to the world and this is also how the public would perceive it.
“The second declaration is to the effect that, but for the FIA’s breaches of duty, Mr. Massa would have won the championship: in other words, that he should have won the championship.
“The FIA, as an international sporting body beyond the reach of this Tribunal, could and would simply ignore any such statement.
“That underscores its lack of practical utility, but the statement comes too close, in my opinion, to affecting the FIA’s right to govern its own affairs.”
In the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Renault orchestrated a victory for Fernando Alonso by ordering Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash, which brought out a safety car and meant that Massa, who was leading the race for Ferrari, finished in 13th place after his strategy was compromised.
The following season, Piquet revealed that he had been instructed by his bosses to deliberately crash.
Massa’s lawyers claim that Ecclestone knew the accident was deliberate and that he and the FIA did not investigate it.
In the October hearing, Nick De Marco KC, representing Massa, said in written submissions that the defendants could not “establish that Mr. Massa’s claims have no real prospect of success”, adding that Massa had “a real prospect of success on all grounds”, said the matter should go to a full trial. David Quest KC, representing Ecclestone, said Massa’s claims were “a misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship”. John Mehrzad KC, representing the FIA, said Massa’s claim is “tortuous and overly ambitious” and “conspicuously overlooks a catalog of its own errors”. Anneliese Day KC, representing Formula One Management, said in written submissions that the claim “would fail”.
