\nSAO PAULO, 5 Nov (AP) \u2014 Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa visited the Interlagos track where the Brazilian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday, but did not get Formula One drivers or team executives to openly support his claims that he was \u201crobbed\u201d of the 2008 title, which he lost by one point to Lewis Hamilton.
\nMassa has hinted he will take the case to court if governing body FIA and Formula One Management do not make a decision regarding the Singapore Grand Prix of that year, when Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed deliberately to help his then-Renault teammate Fernando Alonso to win the race.
\nThe Renault team was eventually punished but the results stood, giving a path for Hamilton to beat Massa to the drivers\u2019 title. Earlier this year, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said he learned in 2008 that the crash had been deliberate.
\nThe 42-year-old Brazilian driver wandered around the paddock before Saturday\u2019s sprint race, spoke to journalists and insisted he has a final deadline of Nov. 15 before taking any action against sports bodies.
\n\u201cI came here as a fan. I was always passionate about autosport, about Ferrari. But this doesn\u2019t change our fight for justice,\u201d Massa said at Interlagos. \u201cMany drivers do support me in this, but they don\u2019t want to speak. I don\u2019t regret any of this, justice is a bigger good here.\u201d
\nOn Thursday, drivers Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz were asked during a press conference whether they support Massa\u2019s claims. The room was filled with silence. Moments later, Ferrari\u2019s Sainz said: \u201cI don\u2019t think anything about this.\u201d
\nHamilton added he doesn\u2019t think about the issue.
\nThe next day, Formula One management said Massa was \u201cwelcome\u201d to the race, but even in his presence no drivers or teams executives choose to speak in his favor.
\nMassa said Saturday he didn\u2019t come to Interlagos in his role as an F1 ambassador. He did not attend the Italian Grand Prix in that capacity earlier this year due to a request from the organizers of the series amid the threats of lawsuits from the Brazilian.
\nMassa added he is unlikely to attend the first Las Vegas Grand Prix later this month because he would have to do it as an ambassador, \u201cand that could cause problems at this moment.\u201d
\nThe Brazilian has an accreditation that allows him to be present at any grand prix he wishes.<\/p>\n
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SAO PAULO, 5 Nov (AP) \u2014 Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa visited the Interlagos track where the Brazilian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday, but did not get Formula One drivers or team executives to openly support his claims that he was \u201crobbed\u201d of the 2008 title, which he lost by one point to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-227873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}