Felipe Massa issues a new defiant and irate statement, putting Lewis Hamilton’s championship in jeopardy.

Felipe Massa wants Lewis Hamilton to be stripped of his first Drivers’ Championship title.

In his attempt to deny Lewis Hamilton the Drivers’ Championship title that he won by one point in 2008, Felipe Massa has vowed to keep “fighting to the end.” The Brazilian driver, who finished second in the season finale, is now convinced that the FIA wrongfully denied him the championship.

At the Singapore Grand Prix earlier in the season, Massa had a victory robbed from him when Fernando Alonso won the race. Later it was discovered that Renault had deliberately caused Nelson Piquet Jr., the Spaniard’s teammate, to crash in order to activate the safety car.

The incident gave rise to the “crashgate” scandal, which turned out to be one of the biggest controversy in the history of the sport. In April, it reared its ugly head once more when Bernie Ecclestone, the former head of Formula One, revealed that he was aware of the plot before acknowledging that the Singapore result ought to have been thrown out. Ecclestone later withdrew the claim, insisting that he was not aware of any conspiracy, but he has since changed his mind.

In response, Massa declared he would pursue legal action to have the 2008 victory overturned. Since then, he has insisted that he will do whatever is necessary to succeed.

They robbed me, for sure,” he told Brazilian outlet Infobae as part of a wide-ranging interview. “It was a perfect championship, which ended by one point at Interlagos. But later we saw that there was a rigged race [in Singapore] and the result should have been cancelled.

“They didn’t do it because they didn’t want to destroy the name of F1. Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview that the 2008 championship is mine for him and that the race in Singapore should be cancelled. They did not do it and they knew in 2008 of the manipulation.

“For me it was a very difficult situation. We prepared a large legal team with lawyers from six countries. We are going to fight until the end because what happened was not fair for the sport, for me, for my country, for the fans, for Ferrari.”

Massa went on to explain that he and his legal team, who are vastly experienced in the field of sporting disputes, are still waiting on a formal response from the FIA. He also suggested that he could seek financial compensation from the governing body but insisted that he is primarily fighting the case for sporting reasons.

Massa continued, “They are people who have spent a lot of time working on cases like this. “There has been manipulation here. Justice in sports must be pursued. We’ll wait to see how they respond before deciding whether or not to take them to court or a tribunal.

“There is money in the fight that can be claimed, but I am basing my claim on the championship. The trophy is what matters most to me.