Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has filed a lawsuit against Formula One in the High Court of London on Monday local time seeking compensation for losing the world championship title in the 2008 racing season.
Massa was only one point behind Lewis Hamilton in 2008, a season marked by the "crashgate" scandal at the Singapore Grand Prix.
At that time, Renault orchestrated a victory for Fernando Alonso by instructing Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash their other car deliberately.
Massa, who was leading at the time of Piquet's crash, eventually finished in 13th position, narrowly missing out on the championship title.
In the following season, Piquet admitted that the crash had been orchestrated on the orders of his superiors.
Massa has also sued former Formula 1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone and the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the governing body of the sport.
The Brazilian former driver is seeking $80 million (Rp1.24 trillion) in compensation for loss of earnings, sponsors, and other commercial partnerships due to the incident.
"Massa seeks a declaration that the FIA breached its rules by failing to investigate Nelson Piquet Jr's crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix promptly, and if the FIA had acted correctly, Massa would have won the championship that year," said Massa's lawyer, as reported by AFP.
"Massa also seeks damages for the significant financial losses he suffered due to the FIA's failure, in which Mr. Ecclestone and FOM (Formula One Management) were also involved," he added.
The 2008 world championship title was the first for Hamilton, who has since equaled Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles.
"If that's the direction Felipe wants to take, that's his decision. But I choose not to dwell on the past," said Hamilton when asked about the case.
After the incident, Massa did not win any more F1 races and suffered a head injury in the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, although he continued his racing career until 2017.