(Motorsports news) Felipe Massa has begun a legal process to see if there are grounds to get the outcome of the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship overturned because of the events that took place in the Singapore race. The Brazilian feels that the FIA became aware of Nelson Piquet Jr’s deliberate crash in enough time for action to have been taken and get the result scrapped before the F1 title was officially awarded.

The points that title rival Lewis Hamilton took over Massa in that Singapore race ultimately proved the difference between them in the championship that year. If the results were declared null and void, then Massa would be champion.

In light of the incidents that transpired during the Singapore race, Massa has started a legal procedure to determine whether there is a basis to have the results of the 2008 Formula 1 world championship reversed. The Brazilian believes that before the F1 title was formally won, the FIA should have been made aware of Nelson Piquet Jr.’s intentional crash in time to take appropriate action and have the victory withdrawn.

In the end, the points that championship challenger Lewis Hamilton gained over Massa in that Singapore race determined who would win the championship that year. Massa would be the winner if the outcomes were ruled invalid. However, Massa seems to have little options to try to have the outcome of that year’s title pursuit altered, as the FIA Statues state that results are final at the end of this year.

Shortly after the dispute surrounding the Singapore incident was resolved—it was believed that race winner Fernando Alonso was unaware of the scheme developed by his Renault team—Todt was elected head of the FIA. Todt said in an interview with L’Equipe that the case’s circumstances were special as the cheating was discovered much later in the proceedings.

“This is a unique case,” he declared. “We only learned of proven cheating after it was too late. At the FIA, it has always been the policy to ratify the results by December 31 and to never go back on them. “For this Singapore case, the facts were only revealed a year later, and the sanctions imposed by the FIA before my arrival were cancelled by the Paris Judicial Court.”

Todt, however, thinks that matters should have been handled differently in light of more recent discoveries that Charlie Whiting, the F1 race director, and then-FIA president Max Mosley were aware of the situation prior to the F1 finale in Brazil that year. “According to Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley, my predecessor, and Charlie Whiting, F1 race director, were in the know from the beginning,” said Todt.

“I was not aware of this when serving as the FIA president. It could indeed change matters to learn that the federation was aware of the truth prior to this historic December 31. Sadly, Charlie and Max are no longer with us. In retrospect, perhaps we ought to have requested that the race be called off. “The completely new fact, if it is true and verifiable, is that the regulator who made the championship official knew about what happened.”

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