„Crashgate“ has caused serious damage to Lucas di Grassi’s career. The Brazilian revealed this in an interview with racingnews365. Di Grassi also expressed his support for Felipe Massa and hopes he will receive the justice he deserves.
Di Grassi revealed that the „Crashgate“ scandal has significantly harmed his racing career as well. The Brazilian also voiced his support for Felipe Massa, who is suing F1, the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone.
„Crashgate“ refers to the scandal surrounding the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
Then Nelson Piquet Jr. was instructed to crash deliberately to help his teammate Fernando Alonso win the race. Ultimately, the two-time world champion managed to seize victory thanks to this.
The details of „Crashgate“ became public knowledge in the middle of the 2009 season. This led to the departure of Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds, who were then working at Renault. Piquet Jr. was also dismissed from the team. Thus, the Brazilian’s career in F1 effectively came to an end.
The events of „Crashgate“ prompted Felipe Massa to file a lawsuit against F1, the FIA, and Bernie Ecclestone. The Brazilian believes he was „robbed“ because the race in Singapore was not canceled. The case began last week, and it is still undecided whether Massa’s claim will be accepted or not.
Di Grassi was a reserve driver for Renault during the 2008 season. The Brazilian admitted that he saw the scandal unfold from the team’s pit. Commenting on what Brazil thinks about Massa’s decision to sue F1, the FIA, and Ecclestone, Di Grassi said the following: “Well, I can’t generalize for Brazil.“
“I have no idea because I haven’t done any research, I don’t know. In my opinion… I like Felipe, he is a very good friend of mine. He had an incredible championship this year. Did he deserve to win? Yes.
„But in this sport, so many things can happen. If you start analyzing all the possible scenarios that have occurred over the last 40 years in the sport, there are so many ways you can look at it,“ continued the former F1 driver.
„In this sport, there are so many ‘ifs’ that it’s very difficult to justify anything. I wanted him to be the champion. Yes, I think he was the moral champion this year. Will it change anything if he wins? I suppose financially for him.“ But besides that, I wouldn’t want to see this precedent apply to every possible championship that has been lost or contested in different ways. I truly hope he gets what he deserves, but at the same time, I don’t want this sport to create this precedent.
Piquet Jr. drove for Renault during the first half of the 2009 season, despite being under significant pressure. Ultimately, he was dismissed from the team after the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Brazilian had a difficult campaign and failed to score any points.
According to Di Grassi, Piquet was „almost fired“ during the incident. The 41-year-old driver admitted that he expected to be replaced for the remainder of the 2008 season.
Unfortunately, negotiations with di Grassi were stalled due to the events of „Crashgate.“ Ultimately, the Brazilian was overlooked by Renault, who chose to continue with Piquet Jr. and then with Romain Grosjean.
“This damaged my career,” di Grassi revealed. “At that time, I was the reserve driver for Renault. I was supposed to get [the seat] of Nelson, because Nelson was practically fired at that time, and I was next in line for that race seat.”
“After Singapore, everything stalled, and they renewed [his] contract.
So this also affected my career. Maybe I will come back and sue [Renault]! That will never happen. Besides, I would have been in a different position in my career. It’s very difficult. Of course, this would have changed my career because then I would probably have had a few more races with a better team instead of Virgin. Then I would probably have scored points in F1. This would have changed my financial situation at that time.
Asked if he thought at the time that Piquet Jr. had crashed on purpose, Di Grassi replied: “I had suspicions, but they were never confirmed. “I only understood the whole story after it was fully reviewed.”
Di Grassi ultimately records one season in F1 with the Virgin Racing team. The Brazilian has a very slow car and fails to score points. His best finish is 14th place in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
After leaving Virgin Racing, Di Grassi works as a test driver for Pirelli. He then shifts to racing with sports cars and prototypes, as well as Formula E. There he achieved success and became champion in the 2016-17 season. In the upcoming campaign, he will race for the Abt Lola team alongside former Sauber reserve driver Zane Maloney.
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