Massa blames Renault for lost 2008 title

Felipe Massa has said that he is very upset with the way Renault 'stole' a Grand Prix victory at Singapore last year. He claims the events caused him to lose the 2008 world championship by 1 point to Lewis Hamilton.

“I was very upset with everything that happened,” Massa said. “Not only with what Renault did, which was a theft. And it created a lot of things, the Safety Car meant that most of the cars had to go the pits, and I was one of them. We had 10 cars going into the pits. Mine went wrong. There were two cars at the same time. A mechanic pressed a button in a situation that would never have happened in a normal pit stop. What bothers me is that Renault stole the win.

“The result remains the same, this is not right. For me it should have been changed. I lost the title by one point. I am not and never will be a driver who thinks, ‘I could have been World Champion’. “Even if they write today in my CV that I am the champion, after a year, I don’t think it would make any difference.

“We went to a lawyer, but there comes a time when there is nothing that can be done. Is the rule, the FIA decides.”

Massa's issues with what happened at Singapore 2008 are certainly founded, but one can never know if his pitstop wouldn't have gone wrong in any situation given that Ferrari at the time already had had more incidents with its pitstop lights system - something they later removed in favour of the traditional lollypop.