F1 Crashgate: What happened and why Felipe Massa has reignited controversy

It follows an interview with former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone earlier this year, where he told F1-Insider that he and Max Mosley, former president of racing’s governing body the FIA, had known about the deliberate crash soon after the race but hadn’t taken action.

It reignited the controversy and, according to Reuters, is the basis for a Letter Before Claim that Massa’s lawyers have sent to F1 and the FIA — one stage before taking the matter to court. It is understood to allege that Massa lost the championship as a result of a “conspiracy” and is due millions of Euros in compensation as a result.

“The FIA acknowledges receipt of correspondence from representatives of Mr Felipe Massa,” said an FIA spokesman. “The matter is under review and we will not be providing comment at this stage.”

Massa’s claim is that he was the rightful 2008 World Champion, and Hamilton was wrongly awarded the title. But what really happened?

What happened at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix?

A winning tactic emerges

Fernando Alonso and Renault had been world champions in 2005 and 2006 but two years later — after Alonso’s tumultuous year at McLaren — the team was slumped in the midfield, with the suggestion that Renault was ready to pull the plug if results didn’t improve.

Team boss Flavio Briatore was under pressure and, with four races to go, Alonso hadn’t managed a podium finish in 2008. Team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr was struggling to make an impact — save for the German Grand Prix, where he shot to the front after fortuitously (at that time for fuel and tyres) just before a safety car period.

In 2007 and 2008, the pitlane was closed during safety car periods, which meant that any driver lucky enough to pit just before a big incident could gain a huge advantage — as shown by Piquet at the Nürburgring. Fuelled and on fresh tyres, he closed up to the rest of the field — who were yet to stop — as they queued behind the safety car,

It was the luck of the draw that all teams were hoping to get: when the safety car pulled into the pits — followed by most of the grid — Piquet was catapulted from 14th to third. He led at one point, and finished second.

Renault hits form in Singapore

It wasn’t the win that the team was desperate for, however. By round 15 of 18 in Singapore, time was running out, but hope was rising. Alonso was fastest in two of the three practice sessions and looked competitive in qualifying: ending up sixth in Q1.

Then a fuel hose problem in Q2 relegated him to 15th on the grid, one place ahead of Piquet. Neither seemed to stand much of a chance on Singapore’s tight and narrow streets. Or so we thought.

Piquet crash hands Alonso his winning opportunity

As the race got underway, Alonso made a quick pitstop on lap 12 for fuel and tyres. Given his midfield grid position, it made little sense at the time to have given him a low fuel level at the start and the Renault driver dropped to the back.

But a lap later, Alonso’s prospects took a dramatic upward turn as his team-mate was told to push and then span into the wall at Turn 17, bringing out the safety car and closing the pitlane.

Given the corner’s low speed, crashing there at all was considered unlikely, let alone twice in one afternoon: the Brazilian had spun at the same spot during the warm up lap just 20 minutes earlier. Combined with Alonso’s bizarre strategy, suspicions were already forming.

Just as Piquet had benefitted in Germany, so Alonso reaped the benefits at Marina Bay. Most of the grid pitted and he was suddenly fifth. When the dust finally settled, he was leading.

But some lost much more than a position to Alonso: Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica were given stop-go penalties, their low fuel levels forcing them to stop while the pitlane was closed.

It was worse for race leader Felipe Massa. Ferrari called both of its cars in as soon as the safety car period was over and in the scramble to send Massa out before team-mate Kimi Raikkonen arrived, he was given the green light too early. His fuel hose hadn’t been removed and he ripped it out of the pump, trailing it down the pitlane. His crew raced across to remove it, but the title contender resumed in last.

Massa would eventually finish pointless in 13th while Alonso maintained his lead until the chequered flag, capturing his 20th career victory, followed by Rosberg in second and Hamilton in third.

Former pole sitter Massa, was forced to the back of the pack, ultimately finishing 13th. Piquet Jr later called his strange crash a simple error.

What was Crashgate?

Some raised the prospect of foul play at the time, but only few inside Renault knew that the crash had been no accident, along with Piquet Jr’s father, who was informed the following week. “When Nelson [Jr] called me, I asked him what happened when he shunted the car,” Piquet Sr. told Motor Sport in 2013.

“He said it was all programmed and he had been told to do it. I was quite shocked: ‘How could you do something like that?’ I asked him. He said, ‘Look, you should know what the pressure is like here. They told me that if I wanted to be part of the team, I had to do what they want’.”

Piquet said that he retold the story to F1’s then-race director, Charlie Whiting, in a private capacity, and that Whiting had said that he would need to make a formal complaint to take the matter further. But with Piquet Jr still at Renault, nothing more was said.

That was until Renault fired Piquet Jr in the middle of the following 2009 season, citing a performance clause. He promptly spilled the beans, telling the FIA that he had been ordered to crash by team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds to ensure Alonso would have a greater chance at victory.

“When Briatore confirmed to me that it was going to be the end for Nelson, I went to see Max [Mosley],” said Piquet Sr. “I told Nelson he would never drive in F1 again, and either he could go easy, or we could get some money from Renault. And he said, ‘OK, let’s go and fight’.”

Key figures were then summoned for interviews by the FIA, where contradictions in the story emerged. Speaking to Motor Sport, Symonds said that the Piquet Jr himself had approached him with the idea himself — following his success in Germany — in an attempt to help the team and hold onto his own F1 seat. With the spectre of the team potentially being closed, Symonds said that he grudgingly agreed with the plan.

Shortly before an FIA hearing, which would result in Renault being disqualified from the 2009 F1 season and suspended for two years, Briatore and Symonds quit their roles but were still given punishments of their own.

Although he continued to proclaim his innocence, Briatore was issued with a lifetime ban from all FIA-sanctioned motor racing and a heavy financial fine. Symonds admitted to his involvement, and was subsequently given a five year ban too. Piquet himself escaped punishment, having helped with the investigation, and Alonso was exonerated, keeping the race win.

Later, French courts determined the punishments were not legal, and the FIA were forced to pay £12,000 in damages to Briatore and reduced Symonds’ ban to three years.

Why has Crashgate resurfaced?

Crashgate’s greatest impact wasn’t in keeping Renault in F1 (Alonso went on to win the following race fairly) but in seemingly altering the course of the 2008 drivers’ world championship.

Massa looked destined to win in Singapore, but the chaotic pitstop cost him any hope of points. Fast-forward to the final round in Brazil, and Hamilton arrived seven points ahead in the championship. Had Massa won in Singapore and Hamilton finished third, the McLaren driver would have had only a three-point advantage. That would have meant he lost the title by three points instead of winning by one on the dramatic final lap.

It’s not a certainty that Massa would have claimed victory in Singapore had the race run as normal, but even finishing on the podium would have been enough to make the difference at the end of the season.

However, with the scandal only emerging a year later, Massa had little hope of overturning a championship title that had already been awarded. That was until Ecclestone’s comments earlier this year, where he said that he and Mosley had known about the deliberate crash before the end of the 2008 season; that they had kept it quiet in attempt to avoid the scandal; and that the Singapore race should have been cancelled “according to the rules”.

It may be that this is the angle that Massa will rely on: remove the Singapore result, and the six points that Hamilton earned from the championship standings, and the Brazilian would be champion.