Hamilton swerves Massa lawsuit noise at Interlagos: “It’s nothing to do with me”
Seventeen years on from that breathless finish in São Paulo, Lewis Hamilton returned to Interlagos with a shrug for the latest twist in Felipe Massa’s legal battle over the 2008 title. The seven-time World Champion — now wearing Ferrari red in 2025 — made it clear he’s not following the courtroom back-and-forth and doesn’t intend to start.
Asked in the paddock about Massa’s case, Hamilton was brief. “I don’t have a view on it,” he said. “I’m not in touch with it at all, not reading about it. It’s nothing really to do with me. I’m just trying to arrive onto my weekends, focus on my job and, whatever reasons that Felipe has, I’m sure he’s got the conviction within him, and that’s what he needs to do.”
It’s the most Hamilton has said on the matter in months — which is to say, not much. And honestly, it’s hard to blame him. The 2008 championship, clinched by Hamilton in the final moments at Interlagos after a year-long duel with Massa, has long lived in the shadow of ‘Crashgate’. The ramifications of that scandal are now playing out not in race control, but in court.
Massa is seeking $82 million in damages, claiming lost earnings and opportunities that he argues would have followed had he been recognized as World Champion. His action stems from a 2023 interview attributed to former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone in a German outlet, in which Ecclestone was quoted as saying he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew the Renault crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was intentional before it became public. Ecclestone has since denied knowledge of giving that interview, and the FIA, Formula One Management and Ecclestone all deny Massa’s claims against them.
The former Ferrari driver recently spent three days in a London court for a hearing to determine whether his case should proceed to a full trial. A decision on that question will be handed down at a later date. Massa has consistently framed the action as a matter of “sporting justice,” not a personal crusade against Hamilton.
That distinction matters in the paddock. While emotions around 2008 still run hot in Brazil — and always will — there’s no appetite in the current field to get dragged into a legal history lesson. Hamilton’s stance is typical of a driver still juggling a title fight and a team transition. In 2025, he’s focused on Ferrari’s weekend-by-weekend grind, not revisiting old wounds with a legal dictionary.
None of this diminishes the stakes for Massa. If the case advances, it would push Formula 1 into uncharted territory: a court picking at the edges of an outcome that has stood for nearly two decades. Regardless of where anyone stands on the merits, the implications — competitive, commercial, and historical — would be significant.
For now, though, it’s business as usual on track. Interlagos remains a theatre where the past never sits far from the present, and Hamilton knows that as well as anyone. He took his first crown here; today he’s trying to add to Ferrari’s haul and his own legacy in a very different phase of his career.
The court will speak in due course. Until then, Hamilton’s steering well clear of the noise — and straight into the next session.
