The Supreme Court has allowed Formula One Management, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone to bring a leapfrog appeal in Felipe Massa’s Crashgate damages case, pushing the long-running dispute to the country’s top court. The move gives the defendants a direct route to challenge the ruling that let Massa’s unlawful means conspiracy claim go to a full trial.
Massa is seeking up to £64 million over the fallout from the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, where Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed on orders from Renault team boss Flavio Briatore, triggering a safety car that helped Fernando Alonso win. Massa had been leading before the caution and finished 13th, outside the points, before losing the drivers’ title to Lewis Hamilton by a single point at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
That is why his case keeps drawing attention. Massa says the crash should have been investigated in 2008, not 2009, and argues that if it had been dealt with before the championship ended, the Singapore result would have been annulled and he would have won the title. He has said he wants to prove in court that the defendants conspired to conceal the truth and that Formula One should be fair as well as the sport’s biggest stage.
The claim has already been narrowed by the court. Massa can still pursue damages, but he cannot obtain a declaration that the 2008 championship was rightfully his, a limit that undercuts the broader victory he has long sought from the case. In March 2026, the High Court also ordered the defendants to pay him £250,000 in costs linked to the latest round of applications.
The leapfrog appeal follows a three-day hearing last October, when Mr Justice Jay dismissed several of Massa’s claims but allowed the unlawful means conspiracy claim to proceed. The defendants are now asking the Supreme Court to decide whether that claim should be stopped before a full trial or allowed to continue, with Massa accusing them of failing to investigate the deliberate nature of the crash before the 2008 championship ended.
Massa retired from Formula One after the 2017 season, but the Crashgate fight has kept him in the headlines. The next step now belongs to the Supreme Court, and its ruling will decide whether the case moves toward a trial on the alleged conspiracy or ends before the evidence is heard in full.
