Ferrari's Felipe Massa believes 'fixed' 2008 Singapore GP's results should be scrapped
Ferrari's Felipe Massa believes 'fixed' 2008 Singapore GP's results should be scrappedThe 2008 Singapore GP result should be scrapped, Felipe Massa said yesterday, claiming Renault driver Nelson Piquet junior's deliberate crash and teammate Fernando Alonso's subsequent win had "robbed" him of glory.
"What happened was robbery but regarding the race nothing has happened, the result remains the same. This is not right," said the Ferrari ace.
"The robbery changed the outcome of a championship and I lost (the title)," Massa told Globo television.
Alonso, who started from 15th place on the grid, won the race after the safety car came out following Nelson Piquet's crash. Alonso had already pitted and was left at the front once the safety car period ended.
Piquet, sacked by Renault in August, then revealed that team chief Flavio Briatore and chief
engineer Pat Symonds ordered him to crash.
Last month Briatore and Symonds both quit as the team announced they would not contest the allegations.
Renault were handed a suspended ban at a hearing in Paris while Briatore was banned for life.
However the race result remains unchanged, which leaves Massa to reflect on how he lost the drivers' championship to eventual winner Briton Lewis Hamilton by a solitary point.
Hamilton finished that race third, while Massa, who started on pole came in 13th.
"I have seen in football how when a referee took money to throw a game, all suspected results were annulled.
In Italy, Juventus were relegated. But here (in F1) they simply sent Briatore home. I don't get it. I don't think this was right," he said.
