The Brazilian says he lost tens of millions of euros in earnings and bonuses.
Felipe Massa suffered a near-fatal head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix before retiring in 2017.
“Simply put, Mr Massa is the rightful 2008 driver’s champion, and F1 and FIA deliberately ignored the misconduct that cheated him out of that title,” said the letter, seen by Reuters, sent from the London offices of Enyo Law on Aug 15. It warned that in the absence of a substantive reply within 14 days, the lawyers “anticipate being instructed to commence legal proceedings in the English courts without further notice to you”.Massa was leading the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet crashed his Renault into the wall on lap 14 of the 61-lap race.
Piquet revealed in 2009 that he had been told to crash by Renault team bosses, who were subsequently banned.Massa sought legal advice after former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone told a German website in March that he and former FIA president Max Mosley knew at the time that Piquet crashed deliberately but had not acted.“If the most important people from Formula One and the FIA knew in 2008 and didn’t do anything, you think that was fair? It’s not fair.