Felipe Massa has taken the first official step in suing Formula 1 authorities over the 2008 world championship outcome.
Former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone triggered the action by admitting recently that the sport knew about the ’crashgate’ scandal prior to the end of the season.
That may have handed the title to Brazilian Massa, now 42, rather than Lewis Hamilton.
On August 15, Massa’s law firm sent a letter to Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
The allegation is that initially ignoring Renault’s misconduct over the deliberate Nelson Piquet crash in Singapore of 2008 meant Massa was robbed of the world championship - including millions in earnings and the reputational consequences.
In the letter, Massa’s lawyer said the former Ferrari driver had been the "victim of a conspiracy", with F1 and the FIA given two weeks to respond.
Both of F1’s authorities declined to comment, according to Reuters news agency, while 92-year-old Ecclestone is denying he even remembers making his recent comments.
On social media, some pointed out that if the outcome of the 2008 world championship is overturned, then so too should Max Verstappen be stripped of his 2021 title over the conduct of ousted race director Michael Masi in the Abu Dhabi finale.
"No, I’m not going to watch that again," Verstappen tells De Telegraaf newspaper in a new interview. "I know I won.
"In the months after that race I looked back a bit, but at a certain point I only look forward."