Comments on: Massa wants justice for Singapore ‘robbery’

By: DAN

DAN — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:27:37 +0000

Today out of curiosity I looked at Markku Alén’s biography on Wikipedia and found this:

“(Markku) Alén narrowly lost the 1986 World Rally Championship to rival driver, Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 pilot Juha Kankkunen. Late in the season, Alén had been victorious on the San Remo rally only after Kankkunen’s Peugeot team was excluded by the organizers on a controversial technicality. Peugeot subsequently appealed the exclusion to the FISA, which eventually annulled the results of the rally, stripping Alén of the World Championship title which he had held for just eleven days, which lead to Alen famously boycotting the 1987 Monte Carlo Rally. ”

This is interesting. In this case the full result of a rally was retrospectively cancelled 1) after the last few rallies of the season were run and 2) 11 days after Alén had been crowned WC, giving the title to Juha Kankkunen.

So the FISA (ancestor of the FIA) did then exactly what Massa is requesting now: Retrospective cancellation of a race result.

I imagine that back then quite a few people sided with Alén and other with Peugeot and Kankkunen.

I am not here siding with Massa or against him on this but found it interesting to spot that in one occasion in the Rally World Championship a result was overturned In a way similar to what Massa wished had happened at the end of Last year.

The funny bit in that story too is that in 1986 the FISA (now FIA) gave the title to Peugeot then run by a Mr Todt, Jean Todt

I am sure people back then would have argued that if they had expected the cancellation of the San Remo rally Markku Alén and Juha Kankkunen would have driven the last rallies of the season differently.

Can you imagine the endless debates on rallying blogs if such technology had been available in 1986!!!

By: bonnie b

bonnie b — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 01:57:32 +0000

Right on brotha !

By: Lunchbox

Lunchbox — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:43:50 +0000

It’s been reported that team bosses knew something was amiss right after the Singapore race. We wouldn’t even be having this discussion had Charlie Whiting and the FIA looked in to it post-haste.

By: Dauné

Dauné — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:35:00 +0000

Whatever Murray said is not always gospel. F1 stands for Formular ONE, not Formular I. F One reversed is not IF. Work it out.

By: Nick

Nick — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:46:57 +0000

Massa’s comparison with the match-fixing scandals in Italy are flawed. The results of individual matches deemed to have been fixed weren’t annulled, the punishments took the form of bans for people involved and relegation/points deductions for teams involved. In that context, this case has been handled similarly, with bans for Briatore and Symonds (and Piquet would have been but for immunity) and a suspended ban for Renault.

Massa’s always struck me as having a bit of a chip on his shoulder and not quit the classy guy many have stated him to be. As someone else commented, interesting contrast between these comments and Lewis’ after the 07 season.

By: The Conspiracist

The Conspiracist — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:24:19 +0000

F1 is all about looking forward!

Simple as!

By: Evo IX

Evo IX — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:20:14 +0000

Hamilton had a number 2 driver put in the other car, not a champion…

By: Olivier

Olivier — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:40:04 +0000

That’s why we have to take this seriously. Massa’s career might actually be over, while Lewis has plenty of world championship battles ahead of him.

Massa did actually win more races than Lewis in 2008.

I can’t believe I am all over this forum speaking in favour of Massa. I am not a Massa fan, but I hope justice will prevail and the Singapore GP result will be annulled.

By: Olivier

Olivier — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:23:30 +0000

Alonso should be gratefull to Massa & Ferrari as he will be the youngest world champion again …

By: Penfold

Penfold — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:56:20 +0000

James, this statement from Massa is embarrasing and he should be disciplined by the world council for this. His victory at Spa was daylight robbery but he was very happy to collect the points there. Do you think he seriously wants them to take the title off Hamilton and give it to him? The guy’s out of his mind. I also seem to remember him purposely driving into Hamilton at Fuji ruining Lewis’s race while he went on to score 2 points. This smacks of desperation and just goes to show that in his own mind he will never get close to winning the title again.