Felipe Massa, a Sao Paulo local and Formula 1 ambassador, will continue his battle with the sport’s authorities away from his favourite Interlagos circuit this weekend.
As the Brazilian GP gears up, Massa – a regular at his home race since retiring from F1 – will notably be absent from the paddock. It’s because he embarked on a legal crusade against F1 and the FIA, firing a tempest of allegations surrounding the historic ‘crashgate’ scandal. At the heart of his claim were the recent words of F1’s erstwhile ruler, Bernie Ecclestone, who implied that he and certain other high-rung officials knew all about Nelson Piquet’s deliberate Singapore crash in 2008 long before Lewis Hamilton was anointed the 2008 world champion.
Now, Italy’s Corriere dello Sport unveils that it was Massa’s own verdict to recuse himself from the homecoming event in Brazil – a revelation underscoring the gravity of a dispute in which Massa’s gaze is set not only on potential financial reparation but on the seismic and unprecedented quest to rewrite history by revoking Hamilton’s inaugural championship title.
Hamilton, a centerpiece of Massa’s legal pursuit, walkd through the Interlagos paddock on Thursday donning a striking ensemble in hymned tribute to Ayrton Senna, Brazil’s eternal racing icon. He says he’s detached from the entire Massa saga.
“I honestly pay no attention to it,” the Mercedes driver asserted, instead reinforcing that his bond with Brazil has morphed over the years from his role as “public enemy number 1” to nothing but affection, popular with Massa’s countrymen.
“It’s just such a beautiful culture, and the track is iconic,” he said, an ode to a foreign country that has embraced him, “They don’t build circuits like this anymore.”
