Felipe Massa has sparked widespread debate with his decision to file a lawsuit against the highest authorities in Formula One, targeting a 14-year-old controversy that has continued to simmer in the background of the motorsport world. The Brazilian driver is seeking to have the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix - a race that ultimately decided the outcome of that season's championship - overturned. The catalyst for this lawsuit appears to be a joke made by Daniel Ricciardo, which Massa has taken as a significant sign of disrespect, enough to warrant his dramatic course of action.
The events that transpired in Singapore 14 years ago involved a deliberate act by Nelson Piquet Jr to crash his car and trigger a safety car, boosting the chances of his teammate Fernando Alonso. This move inadvertently helped Lewis Hamilton, as the young Briton went on to capitalize on the safety car, overtaking numerous cars and ultimately securing crucial points en route to winning the championship. The fallout led to a severe penalty for Alonso's team at the time, but Lewis Hamilton was left untouched despite having greatly benefited from the situation.
The lawsuit targets the sport's governing body - the FIA, Bernie Ecclestone, who was the head of the commercial rights holder of F1 at that time, and F1 itself as a whole, prompting serious conversations about whether the desired outcome would be a rehearing of the original incident. However, the situation becomes even more complicated considering the current FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem's relatively newfound role and what this might mean for the hierarchy of power throughout the organization.
For those involved in the initial incident, reactions will likely be varied as different parties read into Massa's actions, each seeing it through the lens of their respective biases and experiences. Should the results indeed get overturned, Massa may then be retrospectively awarded the 2008 driver's championship, but supporters for either Lewis Hamilton or Fernando Alonso will have differing perspectives on this consequence, as it would be one that undoes a long-standing piece of history within Formula One.
The bigger implications would stem from the precedent it sets, and what power it gives drivers to seek retrospectively modifications of historically settled incidents. Thus as support for the decision and the reasoning behind Massa's choice of protest mounts, other drivers may start seeing a glimmer of hope that the decisions handed to them in years past might yet be up for debate.