Felipe Massa’s disclosure he is considering legal action over his world championship defeat 15 years ago prompted an amused reaction from McLaren.
Massa was beaten to the 2008 title by Lewis Hamilton in a famous showdown finale at the Brazilian driver’s home event. While Massa won the race, Hamilton denied him the title by claiming fifth place on the final lap.
However Massa remains aggrieved over the damage done to his title hopes at an earlier round in Singapore. Fernando Alonso won the race but the following year it emerged his Renault team had eased his path to victory by arranging for his team mate Nelson Piquet Jnr to crash and cause a Safety Car period.
Massa led the race until that point but his chances of scoring points were ruined by a botched pit stop during that Safety Car period. Hamilton, who had been second before Piquet’s crash, finished third and scored six points more than Massa that day. He went on to clinch the title by a single point.
However former Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone recently claimed the FIA knew of the ‘Crashgate’ episode in 2008 and could have taken action over the outcome of the race. Massa responded last week saying he wants “justice” and is “going after it to understand all this.”
McLaren drew attention to coverage of Massa’s reaction on social media, sharing screengrabs of it accompanied by a montage of pictures of Hamilton clinching the 2008 title in Brazil. “Denial is a river of Egypt,” it remarked in the video’s description, referencing a phrase from a popular social media meme.
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