Felipe Massa signs marketing deal as 2008 title fight heads to London courtroom
Felipe Massa has added fresh muscle to his commercial operation just weeks before his long-awaited legal case over the 2008 Formula 1 world championship reaches the High Court in London.
The former Ferrari driver has entered a “strategic partnership” with EMW Global, a sports and entertainment marketing agency, to grow his brand and commercial footprint across Latin America, Europe, the United States and Asia. The timing is no accident. On October 28 — two days after the Mexican Grand Prix — Massa’s lawsuit over the outcome of the 2008 season is scheduled to begin, a case that could reshape how Formula 1 treats controversies that spill beyond the chequered flag.
Massa, who lost that year’s title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point after a dramatic finale at Interlagos, is seeking up to $82 million in damages. His claim targets the FIA, Formula One Management and former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, all of whom deny wrongdoing. The heart of the dispute is Singapore 2008, the race disfigured by the “Crashgate” scandal. Nelson Piquet Jr. deliberately hit the wall, triggering a safety car that transformed the race and helped teammate Fernando Alonso win. Massa, who’d led from pole, had his afternoon — and ultimately his title bid — torpedoed.
The Brazilian’s new deal is designed to build momentum off-track at a delicate moment on it. EMW Global will handle commercial prospecting, activation, brand strategy and digital marketing. In a statement, Massa called the tie-up “an important partnership with EMW Global, an agency recognised for its work in sports marketing and its global reach,” adding: “We will work together to explore great opportunities in strategic markets.”
EMW Global founder and CEO Michael Rocha-Keys said the company is “excited to establish this partnership with Felipe Massa, a true legend of motorsport,” promising to expand his commercial presence “around the world.”
This isn’t a mash-up of PR and litigation for its own sake. Massa’s legal team, led by Nick de Marco KC, argues that Formula 1’s authorities knew enough about the Singapore manipulation during the 2008 season to act — and didn’t. The allegation, amplified by Ecclestone’s comments to F1 Insider in 2023, is that those at the top chose inaction to avoid “a huge scandal.” The counter from Ecclestone since has been emphatic: you can’t annul a race after the fact, there were no provisions to do so, there wasn’t enough evidence at the time, and, for good measure, his original interview was “lost in translation.”
“There is no way in the world anyone could change or cancel that race,” Ecclestone said, pushing back on the notion of a cover-up and insisting Max Mosley’s FIA lacked the means and the proof to intervene then. He’s also questioned how the case even gets heard: “The lawyers for myself, the FIA and F1 do not understand how it can be heard in a court.”
Massa has been just as clear in the other direction. “Accountability is key to preventing future fraud,” he said recently, framing the case as bigger than personal restitution. “Those entrusted with protecting the sport directly violated their duties, and they cannot be allowed to benefit from concealing their own misconduct. Such conduct is unacceptable in any sphere of life, especially in a sport followed by millions, including children. We will pursue this to the very end in order to achieve a just and fair outcome — for myself, for motorsport in Brazil, and for the sport as a whole.”
The political minefield is obvious. If Massa succeeds, the consequences won’t be confined to a damages cheque. It would test the permanence of results once a season is done, and whether the sport’s governance can be challenged in civil court over decisions made — or not made — in the moment. That’s why this hearing is being watched from paddocks and boardrooms alike.
Strip away the legalese and you’re left with the indelible image of Interlagos 2008: Massa screaming with joy on the podium, chest thumping, believing he’d done enough; Hamilton slipping past Timo Glock in the final corners to take fifth and the title by one point; the swing from euphoria to heartbreak in minutes. Seventeen years on, the emotions haven’t cooled much. Neither, clearly, has the will to keep fighting.
As October 28 approaches, Massa’s off-track team is now reinforced. The on-track past can’t be rerun. But in London, he’ll try to redraw the lines of what should have happened next.
