A High Court judge has ruled that Felipe Massa’s £64m claim against Formula 1, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone can go to trial.
Massa says he is the rightful winner of the 2008 drivers’ world championship after events at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr later said he was instructed by his team to crash deliberately, triggering a safety car that affected Massa’s race strategy. Massa, who had been leading for Ferrari, fell to 13th and lost the title to Lewis Hamilton by one point.
Piquet’s 2009 disclosure that his crash was ordered underpins Massa’s allegation that those running the sport knew or should have known about the deliberate collision and failed to investigate. Massa’s lawyers allege Ecclestone was aware of a cover-up and that the FIA and Formula One Management (FOM) did not take appropriate action.
Ecclestone, who ran F1 for decades before 2017, suggested in 2023 that executives were aware of matters being covered up before the end of the 2008 season. Ecclestone, the FIA and FOM deny Massa’s 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 track, and that his claim was out of time.
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 rejected Massa’s request for declaratory relief that would effectively 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 that the court should not be used to rewrite the result of the 2008 drivers’ world championship.
After the ruling Massa described it as ‘a tremendous victory’ and said he would 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 the claim had no real prospect of success and that it should proceed to trial. Defence counsel described the claim differently: David Quest KC, for Ecclestone, called it a ‘misguided attempt to reopen the results of the 2008 F1 drivers’ championship’; John Mehrzad KC for the FIA called the claim ‘torturous’ and said it overlooked Massa’s own errors; and Anneliese Day KC for FOM said the claim would fail.