The 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship was contested over eighteen races commencing on the 16th of March in Australia and concluding on the 2nd of November in Brazil. Two names synonymous with this year are Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa – the title rivals both vying against the odds for their maiden Championship victory.

Lewis Hamilton

Sir Lewis Hamilton is a British racing driver who most recently competed in Formula One for Mercedes, however, is due to drive for Ferrari from the 2025 season onwards. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers’ Championship titles – tied with Michael Schumacher – whilst also holding the records for the most wins (105), pole positions (104), and podium finishes (202), among others.

Hamilton began his career in karting at the age of six. His father brought him a kart for Christmas, promising to support his racing career as long as he continued working hard at school. Hamilton’s father worked up to four jobs at a time to support Hamilton’s early career whilst still attending his son’s races, continuing on as his manager through till early in 2010.

He went on to win several national karting titles and attracted the attention of Ron Dennis, who signed him to the McLaren-Mercedes Young Driver Programme in 1998. After winning the direct-drive Karting World Cup and European Championship, Hamilton graduated to junior formulae, going on to win the Formula 3 Euro Series and the GP2 Series.

Hamilton signed for Mclaren in 2007, becoming the first black driver to compete in Formula One at the Australian Grand Prix. in his rookie season, he won a total of four Grand Prixs and set several records before finishing runner-up to Kimi Raikkonen by one point. Hamilton won his maiden title in 2008 to become the then-youngest World Drivers’ Champion. 

He made the switch to Mercedes in 2013 to partner Nico Rosberg. Hamilton won the 2014 and 2015 Championships, with Rosberg claiming the 2016 title – the Mercedes dominating the sport after the new engine regulations came into effect and the pair winning 51 out of 59 Grand Prix’s between 2014 and 2016.

Hamilton claimed his fourth and fifth titles in 2017 and 2018 after overturning mid-season point deficits to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, before winning his sixth Championship in 2019. After breaking several records across the 2020 campaign – including the all-time win record after claiming victory at the Portuguese Grand Prix – Hamilton equaled Michael Schumacher’s record of seven World Drivers’ Championships.

He finished runner-up to Max Verstappen amidst a controversial season finale in Abu Dhabi in 2021 whilst becoming the first driver to surpass 100 race wins and pole positions. Following two winless years in 2022 and 2023, Hamilton claimed his record-breaking ninth British Grand Prix win in 2024. At the conclusion of his 12th season with Mercedes, Hamilton is set to join Ferrari from 2025 onwards.

Hamilton has been involved with furthering Formula One’s global following by appealing to a broader audience outside of the sport, both due to his environmental and social activism, as well as his high-profile lifestyle.

Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa is a Brazilian racing driver who currently competes in the Stock Car Pro Series for TMG Racing. Massa competed in Formula One from 2002 through to 2017, with his best result being runner-up in the World Drivers’ Championship in 2008 with Ferrari.

Massa began his career in karting at the age of eight, finishing fourth in his first season before going on to win national and regional championships in the discipline. He graduated to junior formulae in 1998, competing and winning several championships in Formula Chevrolet and Formula Renault, before winning the Euro Formula 3000 Championship in 2001 with Draco.

Massa signed with Sauber for the 2002 Championship, partnering Nick Heidfeld, and made his Formula One debut at the Australian Grand Prix of that year. Despite finishing several times in the points in his rookie season, Massa was replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentsen in 2003, becoming a test driver for Ferrari. Massa returned to Sauber the following year, remaining with the team throughout the 2004 and 2005 season, before signing with Ferrari in 2006 to partner Michael Schumacher.

Massa achieved his maiden win from lights to flag at the Turkish Grand Prix, and became the first Brazilian driver since Ayrton Senna to win his home Grand Prix. During the 2007 season, Massa claimed several victories in a four-way title battle with Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen, with the latter taking the Championship win. Massa finished runner-up in his 2008 campaign, losing the World Drivers’ Championship by one point to Hamilton on the last lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix – the last race of the season.

At the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa was seriously injured during Qualifying when he was hit by a suspension spring from the Brawn of Rubens Barrichello whilst travelling at 162 mph (261 km/h), being replaced by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella for the remainder of the 2009 season. He returned to Ferrari in 2010, now partnering Fernando Alonso, and briefly led the Championship after the Malaysian Grand Prix.

After struggling for form with Ferrari, Massa left the team at the end of the 2013 campaign, announcing his move to Williams to pair Valterri Bottas for the 2015 season. He announced his retirement at the conclusion of 2016, however, he postponed this retirement to the end of the 2017 season as a result of Nico Rosberg’s abrupt retirement from the sport and Bottas moving to Mercedes as his replacement. Over his Formula One career, Massa achieved 11 wins, 16 pole positions, 15 fastest laps and 41 podiums.

Massa went on to compete in Formula E from 2018 through to 2020 for Venturi Racing, whilst also competing in the Stock Car Pro Series in Brazil since 2018. 

2008 Formula One Championship

Singapore Grand Prix

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on the 28th of September at the newly built Marina Bay Street Circuit. It was the 15th race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship and the first ever Formula One race held at night.

The 61-lap race was won by Fernando Alonso for the Renault team after he started from 15th on the grid after his teammate deliberately crashed on Lap 14 to deploy the Safety Car after his first pit stop. To read more about “Crashgate” click HERE to read our article. Nico Rosberg claimed second in his Williams, followed by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Felipe Massa initially started the race in pole position, however, he finished out of the points as a result of a botched pit-stop by Ferrari – Massa prematurely left the pit box with his fuel hose still attached and subsequently dropped to last place.

Brazilian Grand Prix

The 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on the 2nd of November at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, Interlagos, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was the 18th and final race of the 2008 Formula One World Championship.

Heading into the final race of the season, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton led the Drivers’ Championship with 94 points, with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in second with 87 points. A maximum of ten points were available for the final race, meaning that Massa was still in with a chance at winning the title if Hamilton finished in sixth place or lower. In the events of a points tie, Massa would be crowned Champion on a count-back as he had achieved more wins.

Qualifying

Massa claimed his sixth pole position of the season, and his third consecutive pole at the Interlagos track, with a time of 1:12.368. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Trulli, in his best qualifying performance of the season, whilst Hamilton qualified fourth – half a second behind Massa – as a result of battling both Ferrari’s for time during the first two qualifying sessions.

Race

Massa retained the lead of the race going into the first corner, followed by Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton and Kovaleinen. Going into Turn 2, Coulthard was hit from behind by Nico Rosberg, causing the Red Bull driver to spin on track, before colliding with Rosberg’s teammate Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams. Coulthard was forced to retire from his final race as a result of his damaged suspension.

Piquet spun off at the next corner, making contact with the barriers, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car at the end of the first lap. Racing resumed on Lap 5, and by Lap 11 all drivers had changed to dry-weather tyres as the track condition began to improve.

Light rain began to fall on Lap 63. Hamilton and Vettel made their way into the pits, halting their battle for fourth place, to change to the intermediate tyres on Lap 66. Timo Glock remained on track with the dry-weather tyres, moving from seventh to fourth place.

The rain began to fall heavily on Lap 69 with Hamilton running wide, allowing Vettel to move through to take fifth place. Massa took the chequered flag to win the race whilst Hamilton battled with Vettel for the crucial point needed to win the Championship – despite being unaware of his position at the beginning of the final lap before the team informed him over the radio that he needed to overtake Glock during the fifth-place battle.

Vettel and Hamilton passed Glock in the final corners of the race – partly due to the German Toyota driver struggling with grip after choosing to stay out on the dry tyres despite the track conditions worsening. The premature joy in the Ferrari garage soon turned to disappointment as Hamilton finished the race in fifth place to claim his maiden Drivers’ Championship title by a singular point and become Formula One’s youngest Championship winner until Vettel in 2010.

Legal action over title

In March of 2023, in an interview with the German website F1-Insider, former Formula One Group Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone was quoted as saying that both he and then-FIA President Max Mosley were made aware of Renault’s deliberate manipulation of the Singapore Grand Prix “during the 2008 season”. He went on to add that they “had enough information at the time to investigate the matter” and that according to the statutes they “should have cancelled the race [results] in Singapore under these conditions” meaning it “would never have happened for the Championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become World Champion and not Lewis Hamilton.”

Despite this, it was decided that no action would be undertaken before the Championship results were finalised at the end-of-year FIA Prize Giving Ceremony in order to “protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal”.

Following on from these comments, Massa reportedly started to investigate whether there was a possibility that he could take legal action to challenge the outcome of the 2008 Championship. In August of 2023, Massa and his legal team sent a Letter Before Claim to the FIA and FOM.

In March of 2024, Massa filed a lawsuit against Formula One, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone in the London High Court, seeking in excess of $80 million in damages and a declaration from the FIA that he would have won the Championship had the governing body not breached its regulations.