Max Verstappen’s 2021 F1 title is at risk as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is given new legal hope over Lewis Hamilton’s Abu Dhabi agony… after Felipe Massa opened legitimate procedures over 2008 ‘Crashgate’ embarrassment.
Verstappen beat Hamilton to the world title on the final lap of the 2021 season.
The call has emerged after Felipe Massa opened legitimate procedures over 2008 title.
Massa claims he was ransacked of the title by the so-called ‘Crashgate’ outrage.
Toto Wolff has said there might however be grounds for Mercedes to challenge Max Verstappen’s questionable title win over Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
That plausibility has come to the fore after Felipe Massa opened legitimate procedures over the 2008 world championship, which he claims he was ransacked of by the so-called ‘Crashgate’ outrage within the inaugural Singapore Fantastic Prix here 15 a long time back.
London attorneys acting for Massa accept the result ought to be scoured since, as has long been set up, Renault requested Nelsinho Piquet to crash to bring out the security car, changing the course of the race so team-mate Fernando Alonso might win.
More particularly, they point to clear unused prove that F1 bosses and the overseeing FIA knew around the skulduggery and chose not to act until the another year.
Wolff said: ‘It is interesting to take after. It isn’t something that anyone saw coming since the rules are pretty clear in F1.
But it’ll set a point of reference — anything it is — and we’re looking from the sidelines with curiosity.’ On the off chance that Massa gets his day in a London court — a long shot — and wins, it would open a Pandora’s box for worldwide wear, counting F1’s 2021 finale.
Race chief Michael Masi freelanced the safety-car rules and Verstappen, advantaged by new tires, seized the chance to pass Hamilton on the final lap.
The FIA afterward conceded ‘human error’ was to fault, but it was as well late to topple the result.
On track recently, Carlos Sainz driven the two Ferraris at the best. George Russell was third best for Mercedes, Fernando Alonso fourth for Aston Martin and Hamilton fifth. ‘Ferrari are quick and we are way more awful than we expected,’ said Verstappen, who was seven-tenths back.
