Photo: Race Pictures

Key Alonso detail emerges after Massa’s latest crashgate revelation

14:47, 02 Nov

byTobia Elia

Felipe Massa revealed another behind-the-scenes detail about the Crashgate scandal during the hearings, this time involving Fernando Alonso and Ferrari.

“When Ferrari found out, GSA wrote me a letter on 16 October 2009 reprimanding me about making public comments about Fernando Alonso”

- Felipe Massa

The former Maranello driver revealed that in 2009, shortly before the infamous Hungarian GP incident and a year before the Spaniard’s debut with Ferrari, he had told journalists that Alonso was aware of his former Renault teammate’s premeditated crash in Singapore.

In his witness statement this week during the preliminary hearings, the Brazilian stated: “In October 2009 I also told journalists that I believed Fernando Alonso knew it (the crash) was on purpose.”

Following this, Massa revealed that he received a letter a few days later from a Ferrari lawyer, issuing a public reprimand for what he had said.

Felipe Massa - Photo: Race Pictures

“When Ferrari found out, GSA wrote me a letter on 16 October 2009 reprimanding me about making public comments about Fernando Alonso. I found out before my accident in July 2009 that Alonso would drive for Ferrari in the 2010 F1 season. The letter was signed by Henry Peter.”

Finally, Massa was asked to make a public statement, which he refused to do: “Ferrari then drafted a statement for me to issue but I refused to make that statement. Instead, I just said that it was time to look to the future.”

FIA delivers fierce response to Massa's 2008 title claim

This week, the preliminary hearings began, which will determine whether a full trial will follow. Massa and his legal team are seeking substantial compensation for the championship lost as a result of the outcome of the 2008 Singapore GP.

On one side of the legal battle is the Brazilian driver and his lawyers, while on the other are the FIA, FOM, and former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

The first exchanges didn’t hold back, with the FIA stating that, “Mr Massa's claim is as torturous as it is overly ambitious,” also highlighting how the defense “conspicuously overlooks a catalogue of his own errors or those of his team, Ferrari, during the Singapore GP and at other GPs.”

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