Formula 1 News: Massa prepares for key 'crashgate' hearings

(GMM) Felipe Massa (pictured) has revealed new details about his ongoing legal battle over the 2008 “Crashgate” scandal, describing it as a fight for justice that goes beyond sport.

The former Ferrari driver spoke on Brazilian podcast Na Ponta dos Dedos, confirming that four days of hearings are scheduled in London at the end of October.

“Obviously, it’s an intense effort by the entire team of lawyers involved in this process,” Massa said. “There’s a lot of work behind this hearing. It’s very important, as an explanation to the judge, to explain that everything that happened isn’t part of sports.”

He called the affair a “conspiracy” that harmed both him and Brazil.

“That’s not acceptable in sports, and unfortunately, my country and I paid the lion’s share,” Massa, 44, insisted. “I never imagined I’d go through this. It’s not easy, it’s very difficult, but justice must be done, and we have to fight for justice.”

Massa also frames his legal pursuit as a moral obligation and precedent for the future.

“Not only for myself, but as an example for the future, so that people know that it is possible to fight for what is fair, for what is right,” he explained.

He pointed to Bernie Ecclestone’s past comments that the 2008 Singapore GP should have been cancelled and that Hamilton’s first title should not have stood.

And Massa said he believes Nelson Piquet jr told the FIA about the conspiracy as early as Interlagos ’08.

“Nelson Piquet (senior) is a three-time world champion,” he charged. “He knows what a title means to him and his country, to the development of motorsport in his country, and they disappeared.

“If I were him, I would embrace the cause and join the fight of another driver, from the same country, who suffered a very sad and unacceptable situation.”

Massa also tied the saga to the decline of Brazilian drivers in F1. “After that there was only me racing after 2011, after that, we only had a few drivers. This shows what the title would represent and how the development of motorsport depends on the results achieved by the country’s drivers.”