Legendary F1 race engineer weighs in on Felipe Massa’s 2008 title court case

Felipe Massa’s former F1 race engineer Rob Smedley has given his verdict on the Brazilian’s legal action over the 2008 world championship.

The now retired, former Ferrari driver is contesting the result that saw him lose out to the 2008 F1 crown to Lewis Hamilton.

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix ‘crashgate’ scandal sits at the heart of Massa’s bid to “bring the trophy home”, which was prompted by an interview in which ex-F1 boss Bernice Ecclestone implied that F1 and the FIA were aware of Renault’s fixing of the race at the time.

Smedley, Massa’s long-time race engineer at Ferrari, was asked for his thoughts on the situation during an episode of The Race F1 podcast.

“I’ve always been a person that whatever happened yesterday, whether it was good or bad, I kind of get up and dust myself off and move on and it just kind of fades into ancient history for me,” Smedley said.

“More pots and pans, more medals or whatever you want to call it, is fairly meaningless for me. I’m interested in what’s happening today and tomorrow and the day after that. But that’s my personal opinion on it.

“But what I will say is that this is something that Felipe feels strongly about. It’s no secret that Felipe is a really good pal of mine. He’s like a little brother to me.

“And if this is something that he feels strongly about and passionately about and when he talks about it, he’s very compelling and he’s very convincing in the fact he is doing this for what he feels is for justice.”

Smedley believes any outcome in which Massa’s legal challenge proved successful would have a precedent on not only F1, but sport in general.

“Everybody should have a personal right to pursue, within the bands of legality obviously, what they think is just. And that’s the case with Felipe here,” he continued.

“There’s lots of different parties involved. We’re starting to look back at the past. Where this will end up, I’ve got no idea. I keep a watching brief on it. That’s kind of all I do, all I can do and all I want to do.

“So it’s of interest, because in the scenario where it does get flipped, what does that open up at that point? In terms of sporting decisions, not only in F1 but in the past.

“That’s not to say that’s right or wrong. I’m not trying to fall on either side of the fence here, it’s just a really interesting element of all of this.

“If there is a decision that favours what Felipe is going after, that will then be very, very interesting for how sport in general deals with past unjust decisions, let's say.”

'How you crash there, I've got no idea' 

Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed at Turn 17 on Lap 14, causing a Safety Car that benefitted teammate Fernando Alonso and opened the door for his eventual victory.

Smedley was asked whether he and Ferrari were suspicious at the time of Piquet’s accident, to which he replied: “How you crash there, I’ve got no idea. I wouldn’t have crash there and I don’t go about 30mph.

“I’ve got no idea how young Nelson crashed there. Well, we have got an idea how he did it. I watched it live and I was watching it thinking ‘strange’.

“Then you watch the replays and by the third replay you think ‘OK, I understand what’s happened now’. It’s simple to work out. It was obvious straight after what had happened.

“Then what the ramifications and the repercussions and how you gain justice and all the rest of it. I don’t think there was anyone within any element of doubt, especially within my close circle, within Ferrari and the guys we were in touch with in the paddock.

“We looked at it and said ‘well yeah, that’s pretty clear what happened there.’”