Formula 1 shock over Ecclestone’s new confession: Why Hamilton should have one less title

Amid the controversy over his statements about the definition of the title of the Formula 1 of 1981 concerning alleged damage to Carlos Reutemanonce again Bernie Eclestone shook the atmosphere and removed the wounds of South American fans. In this case, the Brazilians of this 2008 championship in which, for 38 seconds Felipe Massa was world championbut Lewis Hamilton turn off the carnival in the Interlagos Autodrome Jose Carlos Pace and won his first crown.

Although Ecclestone did not mention this last race at the São Paulo circuit again, he confessed that the competition in Singapore should have been canceled and that is why Hamilton should not have been champion that year. Therefore, for Bernie, the only runner with seven stars is Michael Schumacher.

It is worth recalling what happened in the so-called “crashgate” in which the Renault priests, the team leader, Flavio Briatoreand the technical director, Pat Symondsthey ordered Nelson Piquet Jr.. that he crashed on purpose to facilitate the victory of his teammate, Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was back in the French team after a turbulent year at McLaren with then-rookie Hamilton. Both McLaren drivers lost the title to Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari, the last of the drivers obtained by the Scuderia.

Briatore was one of the architects of Alonso’s F1 campaign and after his debut at Minardi he joined the hosts Renault. But that comeback from 15 years ago was no longer in a solid team like the one the Asturian had in 2005 and 2006, when he beat none other than Schumacher.

This is how Briatore wanted to make amends with Alonso and before the first Singapore Grand Prix, together with Symonds, they spoke with Nelsinho, who agreed to carry out the plan which was to bring Alonso’s stoppage forward and then to force a safety car and this generated the arrests of the pilots who were ahead of the Spaniard, who for this race was classified 15th.

With the arrests, Alonso was the first and took victory in the first night race in the history of the Máxima. It was a historic event, but this step took a back seat when Briatore’s scheme was revealed and the International Federation of Automobiles (FIA) has applied a perpetual suspension to participate in races controlled by the governing body. Sydmonds continued to work in F1 teams and Nelsinho never raced in the category again.

“We decided not to do anything. We wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal. At this moment, there was a rule that a world champion’s ranking was untouchable after the FIA ​​awards ceremony at the end of the year. Hamilton therefore received the cup and everything went well,” Ecclestone revealed, in testimony collected by F1-Initiate.

“We had enough information at the time to investigate the matter. According to the statutes, we should have canceled the Singapore race under these conditions. This means that there would be no impact on the championship standings.. And Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton“Admitted the English tycoon, who was at the time the executive director of Formula One Management (FOM), the company which manages the commercial rights of F1 and which since 2017 has been at the helm of Liberty Media.

If this race had been canceled, no one would have scored points and Hamilton would not have received the 6 units. Massa didn’t add as he was 13th.

“Even today I still feel sorry for Massa. I feel sorry for him. In the end, he won the home race in Sao Paulo and he did everything right. He was wrong and didn’t take the title he deservedwhile Hamilton had all the luck in the world and won his first championship,” he said.

In the last race of the year in Brazil, Massa did everything to be champion and with the support of the crook he won the race. almost delirious 100 thousand compatriots and for 38 seconds Felipe he was champion. This period was between Massa crossing the finish line and Hamilton finishing the race. The Englishman was sixth on the final lap and it wasn’t enough for him to devote himself to, until with three corners to go he overtook Timo Glock (Toyota), which was losing ground. Fifth place in the final went to the British, who at that time became the youngest world champion in history at 23 years old.

Hamilton reached 98 points and beat Massa by one. But if the Singapore race had been called off, as Ecclestone suggests, he would not have had 6 points and the total at the end of the season would have been 92 units for Lewis and 97 for Felipewho would have been the champion.

“Today, I would have done things differently. Therefore, for me Michael Schumacher remains the only record world championeven if the statistics say otherwise,” Ecclestone concluded.

In recent weeks, the former F1 owner has been at the center of controversy for his testimony in his series Lucky in which he revealed a story from the 1981 definition in which Lole Reutemann lost the crown at the hands of Nelson Piquet, who raced with Brabham, the Ecclestone team: “There was a lot of G-force because of the way they joined the corners. After the first day of testing, it was obvious the riders were going to have trouble with all the neck pain. Carlos spoke with the masseuse who was in the pits. I went to this person and after some financial discussions they decided to favor Nelson. I don’t know if I’ve told Carlos yet.” It’s unclear what the masseuse is about but the England tycoon has acknowledged a payment for the Brazilian to take advantage of it.

This drew criticism from Cora Reutemanone of the daughters of the broker who is remembered, who, in dialogue with GlobeLiveMedia has confirmed that he will raise the request to request that his father be proclaimed world champion and the title is taken away from Piquet. His argument is also based on the regulatory irregularities of the Brabham BT 49 with which the Brazilian driver crushed Reutemann at the Argentine Grand Prix by more than 26 seconds. Cora wants this carioca victory in Buenos Aires to be canceled and, with the elimination of these 9 points, Lole would be the champion. That 1981 contest ended with 50 points for Piquet and 49 for Reutemann.

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