Felipe Massa’s former race engineer Rob Smedley has admitted that while the Brazillian’s “compelling” legal case for the 2008 Formula 1 title is “meaningless” to him, the outcome could set a precedent for wider sporting injustices.
Massa was pipped to the 2008 title by just one point by Lewis Hamilton following a dramatic finale in Brazil.
However, fifteen years later the former Ferrari driver took steps to take legal action claiming “moral” and “reputational” damages as a result of losing out on the title with Massa’s legal team claiming that the driver was “the victim of a conspiracy”.
Massa’s case hinges on recent comments made by then-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone concerning the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix and its manipulation by Renault after driver Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately crashed on Lap 14.
Piquet’s crash assisted team-mate Fernando Alonso to victory thanks to the conveniently timed Safety Car spell while Massa, who had been leading to that point, was shuffled out of the points after leaving the pits with the fuel rig still attached. Classifying 13th, the Ferrari driver suffered a six-point swing in the title battle with Hamilton who took third.
Last year, Ecclestone admitted in an interview that he and then FIA president Max Mosely were aware of Renault’s manipulation of the race “during the 2008 season” but decided not to take action “to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal.”
With a rule at the time dictating that after the FIA awards ceremony the world championship was untouchable, it was too late to adjust the result when the controversy surfaced in 2009.
Ecclestone said in 2023 that F1 and the FIA “had enough information “to investigate the matter” ahead of the gala and that “we should have cancelled the race under these conditions; the 93-year-old has since retracted the statement, claiming to have no recollection of the comments.
Asked for his view on the debate, Massa’s long-time engineer Rob Smedley told The Race podcast: “I’ve always been a person that, whatever happened yesterday, whether it was good or bad, I get up and dust myself off and move on.
“More pots and pans, more medals whatever you want to call it, is fairly meaningless for me. I’m interested in what’s happening today and tomorrow and the day after that. But that’s my personal opinion.
“What I will say is this is something that Felipe feels strongly about. It’s no secret that Felipe is a really good pal of mine, he’s like a little brother to me,” continued Smedley who served as Massa’s race engineer at Ferrari from 2006 through 2013.
“If this is something that he feels strongly and passionately about – and when he talks about it he’s very compelling and convincing in the fact that he’s doing this for what he feels is justice.”
Offering his support for Massa’s bid, Smedley conceded that he was unable to predict the outcome but suggested that a positive outcome for Massa would set the precedent for wider sporting injustices.
“Everybody should have their personal right to pursue whatever they feel is just. That’s the case with Felipe here.
“There’s a lot of different parties involved, we’re starting to look back at the past. Where this will end I’ve got no idea. I keep a watching brief on it, that’s all I can or want to do.
“It’s of interest but if it does get flipped, what does that open up at that point in terms of sporting decisions, not only in Formula 1, but in the past?
“That’s not to say that’s right and wrong, I’m not trying to fall on either side of the fence. It’s just a really interesting element of all of this. If there is a decision that favours what Felipe’s gone after, that will then be very interesting in general how sport deals with past unjust decisions.”
Speaking on the infamous events of the Singapore Grand Prix, Smedley added: “How you crash there I’ve got no idea, I wouldn’t crash there and I don’t go over 30mph.
“I was watching it thinking ‘strange’, then you see the replays and by the third replay you’re like, ‘OK, I understand what’s happened now’.
“It’s fairly simple to work out. It was obvious straight after what had happened. Then what the ramifications and the repercussions [are] and how you gain justice and all the rest of it [is another step].
“I don’t think there was anyone with any element of doubt, especially within my close circle, within Ferrari, within the guys I would have talked to in the paddock. We’d have said, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty clear what happened there’.”
