Felipe Massa Wins Supreme Court Leapfrog Appeal in Crashgate Claim
The Supreme Court has granted felipe massa’s side a leapfrog appeal in his Crashgate claim, moving the dispute over the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix into the top court. Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone are now facing the next stage of a case Massa says should have been stopped years ago.
Felipe Massa And The 2008 Race
Massa is seeking damages of up to £64 million over a claim tied to the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed his car. The safety car helped Fernando Alonso win that race, while Massa had been leading before it was deployed and finished in P13.
The wider title fight sharpened the stakes. Lewis Hamilton beat Massa to the 2008 drivers’ championship by one point at the season-ending Brazilian GP, which is why Massa says the Singapore result mattered so much to the championship outcome.
Mr Justice Jay’s Hearing
Last October, Mr Justice Jay held a three-day hearing on the application. He allowed the unlawful means conspiracy claim to move forward to a full trial, while dismissing several of Massa’s other claims.
Massa’s case turns on what happened after Piquet Jr gave a sworn statement to the FIA in 2009 admitting the crash was deliberate. He alleges that if the crash had been investigated in 2008 and the cheating had been dealt with then, the Singapore GP result would have been annulled and he would have won the title.
Formula One Management Appeal
The defendants sought permission to appeal directly to the Supreme Court after Mr Justice Jay declined to dismiss the unlawful means conspiracy claim. The High Court later ordered Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to pay £250,000 in March 2026.
Massa, who retired from Formula One after the 2017 campaign, set out his position at the time of that costs order: "I look forward to proving in court that they conspired to conceal the truth, and I will use all legal means to ensure that this injustice is corrected. Formula One is the greatest sport in the world, but it is essential that it is also the fairest." The leapfrog ruling now puts that dispute before the Supreme Court, with the fight over the 2008 Singapore race still at the center of the case.
