Felipe Massa’s £64m claim against Formula 1, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone can proceed to trial, a High Court judge has ruled.
Massa argues he is the rightful winner of the 2008 drivers’ world championship after events at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr was later revealed to have been ordered by his team to crash deliberately, bringing out a safety car that compromised Massa’s race strategy. Massa, who had been leading for Ferrari, finished 13th and lost the title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point.
Piquet’s 2009 disclosure that his crash had been instructed underpins Massa’s allegations that those in charge of the sport knew or should have known about the deliberate collision and failed to investigate. Massa’s lawyers claim Ecclestone was aware of a cover-up and that the FIA and Formula One Management (FOM) did not act appropriately.
Ecclestone, who ran F1 for decades before 2017, suggested in 2023 that executives were aware of matters being covered up prior to the end of the 2008 season. Ecclestone, the FIA and FOM deny the claims.
Last month the defendants asked the London court to strike out the case, arguing Massa performed poorly in Singapore and lost the championship on the track, and that the claim was time-barred.
In a written judgment, Mr Justice Jay allowed part of Massa’s case to proceed. He said Massa had “no real prospect of establishing that the FIA’s duties were owed to him,” but that “he does have a real prospect of proving at trial all the components of his unlawful means conspiracy.” The judge said the same analysis applied to Massa’s inducement claim.
However, the judge dismissed Massa’s request for declaratory relief that would, in effect, state he should have won the championship. Mr Justice Jay concluded such declarations would be of no practical use — the FIA, as an international sporting body, could ignore them — and would improperly impinge on the FIA’s right to govern its own affairs. He said the court could not be used to rewrite the result of the 2008 drivers’ world championship.
After the ruling Massa said it was “a tremendous victory” and vowed to pursue evidence of any conspiracy thoroughly, adding he was “more determined and confident than ever.”
The FIA said the court had permitted the unlawful means conspiracy claim to go to a full trial “albeit on significantly narrowed grounds and subject to reformulation of the claim by Mr Massa, the French law expert evidence mentioned above, and any applications for permission to appeal”.
At an October hearing, Massa’s counsel Nick De Marco KC argued the defendants could not show Massa’s claims had no real prospect of success and that the matter should go to trial. Defence counsel described the claim in differing terms: David Quest KC, representing Ecclestone, called it a “misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship”; John Mehrzad KC for the FIA described the claim as “torturous” and said it overlooked Massa’s own errors; and Anneliese Day KC for FOM said the claim would fail.