Todt agrees with Massa demand in 2008 title legal battle

Ex-Ferrari Team Principal Jean Todt has agreed with Felipe Massa's viewpoint that the controversial 2008 Singapore Grand Prix should have been "cancelled" and expunged from the record books.

Comments made earlier this year from then-F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone suggested that he, then-FIA President Max Mosley and late FIA race director Charlie Whiting were aware during the 2008 season that Nelson Piquet Jr crashed deliberately in Singapore to manipulate the race in Renault's favour.

Ecclestone claimed this was so to protect F1's image, with Massa suffering from a botched pit-stop under the resulting Safety Car at Marina Bay, when he drove off from the pit-box with the fuel rig still attached.

From leading prior to the stops, he finished out of the points, while rival Lewis Hamilton would take six points for a third-place finish, and win the title by a single point in Brazil.

Massa's legal team has been active in pursuing relevant parties for documents relating to the case, with the Brazilian telling RacingNews365 in an exclusive interview that he hoped Ferrari would throw its support behind his case.

While that has yet to happen, his boss at the time, Todt, has agreed that Singapore should be scrubbed from the record books.

"I won't get into the controversy, but it was very hard for him psychologically," Todt told La Stampa.

"Maybe we could have been tougher when the story became known, but there is no doubt that the Singapore Grand Prix was rigged, and should have been cancelled."