Lewis Hamilton could be stripped of first World Title

If Felipe Massa wins the case, Lewis Hamilton could find his 2008 world title taken away — and with it his current tally of seven championships reduced to six.

Massa, who lost the 2008 Formula One World Championship to Hamilton by a single point, is now pursuing a lawsuit against the FIA and other parties, arguing the championship outcome was compromised.

He contends that the results of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix — the race later engulfed by the “Crashgate” scandal when Nelson Piquet Jr. admitted he was instructed to crash to benefit his team — should have been voided or adjusted, and that had they been, Massa would have been champion.

Massa has been explicit about his motives. “I have nothing against Hamilton. This battle is about a race that was rigged,” he said, adding that he would “ideally” be declared the 2008 champion.

He has repeatedly insisted the title “was ours, and it was taken away by manipulation,” a line that frames his legal push as an attempt to correct what he sees as a historical injustice.

Hamilton’s reaction has been measured. Asked about the proceedings, he said: “If that’s the direction that Felipe wants to go, that’s his decision... I prefer not to focus on the past. Whether it’s 15 years ago, two years ago, or three days ago. I’m only interested in the present.”

The brevity of Hamilton’s public response underlines how fraught and unusual it is to seek to overturn results so long after the event.

The climax of 2008 remains one of the sport’s most dramatic finales. After a season of close fighting, Massa won the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos and, for a few suspended seconds, believed he had secured the title.

But Hamilton’s late pass on Timo Glock on the final corner of the final lap handed him fifth place and the single point he needed to beat Massa by one.

Massa’s case points to Singapore as the pivotal turning point. Piquet Jr.’s crash brought out a safety car that disrupted strategies and, according to Massa’s argument, materially affected the distribution of points that year.

“Crashgate,” which led to the conviction of certain team figures and sanctions in the sport, remains the scandalous backdrop for Massa’s claim that the entire season was tainted.

Legally, the road is uphill. Defendants argue the suit is time-barred and that courts shouldn’t be used to retroactively rewrite sports history based on counterfactual scenarios — what might have happened if a single race had been annulled.

Lawyers for the FIA and others maintain that sporting results and their adjudication fall within the governance structures of sport, not courts seeking to recalibrate championship tallies years later.

If a tribunal were to rule in Massa’s favour and a governing body accepted the decision, the consequences would be seismic: Hamilton’s first world title could be annulled, reducing his tally and reshaping records and narratives around his career.

Even then, practical questions would remain around whether championships can be reassigned after such a long interval.For now, the matter is playing out in courtrooms rather than on the track.

What was once a settled chapter in Formula 1 history — the spectacular 2008 finale — has been reopened, and a sport still grappling with the legacy of Crashgate must confront whether legal remedies can, or should, rewrite the past.