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Frederic Vasseur

Vasseur's firm response to Massa's 2008 title legal action

The current Ferrari chief has addressed Felipe Massa's recent legal action about the 2008 F1 World Championship.

Massa hamilton 2008
Article
To news overview © xpb.cc

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has addressed Felipe Massa's latest legal action over the 2008 Formula 1 title, believing it would be "strange" to alter the results.

Massa lost the 2008 Drivers' crown by one point to Lewis Hamilton, with the Brazilian pursuing legal avenues throughout this year, with Reuters reporting earlier this month that a "letter before claim" had been sent to the FIA and F1 from his legal teams.

Massa's claims over the lost title stem back to the Singapore Grand Prix of that year when the then-Ferrari driver lost a near-certain win after Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed to trigger a Safety Car.

At the resulting pit-stop, a Ferrari blunder saw Massa drive away with the re-fueling rig still attached, as he went on to finish outside the points.

It is claimed that Massa is the "rightful 2008 champion" by his lawyers, with the action being brought about after comments from Bernie Ecclestone suggesting the race should have been cancelled and the results expunged.

The loss of the 2008 title for Massa means that Kimi Raikkonen's 2007 success is the last Drivers' crown for Ferrari, with Vasseur being asked about the situation by select media including RacingNews365 ahead of the Dutch Grand Prix.

			© XPBimages
	© XPBimages

Vasseur's Massa reaction

"As you can imagine, I don't want to make any comment on this matter as I have a good relationship with all the stakeholders," Vasseur explained.

"It is quite tricky as the circumstances were completely exceptional.

"But more generally, and not about Felipe, we are also trying to push the FIA to know the result of the event at the chequered flag.

"And perhaps this…I don’t know, I don’t want to make any comment, but for sure it would be strange [to change something].

"I’m not a big fan to change the result of the race [even] 15 minutes after the chequered flag."

In the letter that was recently sent to both the FIA and F1, Massa lawyers wrote that should "no satisfactory response" be received, proceedings for compensation for lost bonuses and prize money would be launched of behalf of the 11-time Grand Prix winner.

Do you think Felipe Massa should continue his legal action over the 2008 World Championship?

Let us know in the comments below and by voting in the poll.

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