Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa have quite a history, as they were the 2008 driver’s title contenders. Lewis Hamilton managed to become a world champion in 2008. Felipe Massa has been an ambassador of F1 for a long time and is often seen at weekends; however, there are doubts about his participation.
The Brazilian GP will soon be underway and both Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa are home heroes for Brazil. The F1 Grand Prix of Brazil will be interesting to watch as there are only 3 races remaining in the season but the fight for 2nd spot in the driver’s championship is underway between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez.
What happened between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa?
Felipe Massa is considered one of the unluckiest driver’s in Formula 1 and the story of 2008 has always been an emotional matter to him. It was the year Hamilton won his first championship with McLaren but there was a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes. The Brazilian hero Felipe Massa started from pole in his home race during the 2008 Brazilian GP. He came off as a hero by winning the race and for a few seconds, he was about to become a world champion.
But tragedy befell him as Lewis Hamilton overtook Timo Glock in the very last corner, securing a 5th place finish that enabled him to win his very first F1 title, one of many he would acquire later on. The race and it’s results were a heartbreak for Massa but real controversy started when Bernie Ecclestone acknowledged the ‘Crashgate’ scandal and decided not to do anything about it.
This prompted Felipe Massa to take legal action and while a $13 million lawsuit for his 2008 championship which he believes was unfairly taken away, considering the fact that Renault had deliberately crashed Nelson Piquet Jr. in the Singapore GP 2008.
Can Lewis Hamilton repeat history to win Brazilian GP in 2023?
Lewis Hamilton has a special connection to Brazil and the Interlagos circuit has always been kind to him. It was the Brazilian GP that helped Hamilton secure his first championship and during 2021 title race, Hamilton even waved the flag of Brazil post his race win. His appreciable actions garnered praise from Brazil and he ended up becoming and honorary citizen of Brazil. Furthermore, Ayrton Senna, Lewis Hamilton’s one and only idol hailed from Brazil and Hamilton developed a liking towards his home.
The Brazilian GP was also an important race for Mercedes last year, because they were finally able to make a breakthrough and win their sole race from 2022. Mercedes and George Russell won the Brazilian GP 2022 and the recent comments by Lewis Hamilton about their W14 has invoked many probabilities about a potential race win.
It should be noted that the 7 time champion has gone winless for over 2 seasons now and he will look forward to regain his winning streak soon. Do you think Brazil will bring a gift for Lewis this year on the top step of the podium? Mention your views in the comments section below.
