Former Formula 1 star Timo Glock says Felipe Massa’s legal battle over 2008 world championship could have disastrous consequences harm Max Verstappen’s 2021 title.
Massa has launched legal action against FIA and F1 officials following comments made by former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone on the crash scandal.
Ecclestone said he and then-FIA president Max Mosley knew about Renault’s misconduct at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix before they were investigated, but decided to ignore the investigation to avoid a scandal background in sports.
These comments prompted Massa to take action because he believed that if the case had been investigated earlier, the results could have been null and void.
Lewis Hamilton won the world championship that season by one point.
Now, Glock says the outcome of this legal challenge could have a direct impact on Verstappen’s controversial debut trophy.
At the dock Verstappen won the 2021 championship by passing Hamilton on the final lap in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
While the race ended with a dramatic finale, the FIA later admitted that “human error” on the part of then race director Michael Masi caused the cars to perform a lap were told they could overtake the safety car, leaving Verstappen right behind Hamilton on the new tyres.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff recently said Massa’s legal challenge would “set a precedent” for future controversial world title battles. Now, Glock seems to agree.
“Well, that’s a good question. I mean, I’m not 100% sure whether that’s the right way to do it,” he told PlanetF1.
“I was surprised to see him because, you know, after a long time I had to go to court.
“I don’t know if it will work for him.
I mean, he knows what he’s doing. He knows the truth, actually I don’t know what the truth, the details are.
“So we’ll see. Ultimately, if he takes the plunge and even wins, we could see another field that could be Lewis Hamilton vs Max Verstappen.
“So , I don’t know if that’s a good thing for sports. But in the end, I don’t relate to all these details.So I don’t know. I was surprised when I saw that.”