Felipe Massa's arguments were criticized in court.

      Preliminary hearings in London concluded on Friday in Felipe Massa’s lawsuit against the FIA, FOM and Bernie Ecclestone, during which the defendants’ lawyers described the proceedings as a waste of time.

      In the morning the Brazilian driver’s lawyers spoke; Massa was also present at the hearing. Massa’s lawyers responded to the defendants’ initial arguments, and after the lunch break Bernie Ecclestone’s lawyer David Kvest, the FIA lawyer John Merzhad and FOM lawyer Anneliese Day took the floor.

      John Merzhad called the hearing “a waste of time.” He also said that Massa’s main argument was a possible conspiracy based on Ecclestone’s and Max Mosley’s decision to keep silent after it became known that Nelson Piquet Jr. had deliberately crashed at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

      Merzhad emphasized that Massa’s other claims of breach of contract and failure of duty by the FIA were simply used to “inflate” an already dubious case.

      Felipe Massa’s arguments are based on an interview Ecclestone gave to the German publication F1‑Insider in March 2023, in which Bernie said that during the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix he knew about Piquet Jr.’s intentional crash but, together with Mosley, decided to conceal it.

      The Brazilian’s lawyers argue that the limitation period for this case has not expired, because it begins not from the moment the FIA World Motor Sport Council published its report on the crash in September 2009, but from March 2023 after Ecclestone’s interview.

      However Day, representing Formula 1, rejected that argument, saying that the fact Massa failed to “put the picture together” in 2009 is irrelevant, because it was well known about the connection between Mosley, Ecclestone and Charlie Whiting, to whom Nelson Piquet Sr. had said that his son’s crash was deliberate. From this, Day said, it should have been obvious that Ecclestone was aware of the events as early as 2008, not 2009.

      “Massa knew about it, he knew about it all along,” Day told Judge Jay at the end of the proceedings. “The idea that Massa did not know is simply untenable, and you don’t need a trial to understand that.”

      Day also pointed out that Felipe Massa did not seek independent legal advice in the autumn of 2009 after the World Council’s decision, arguing that he had been told by Ferrari that there was nothing he could do.

      “A person exercising reasonable prudence would have sought legal advice,” added Anneliese Day.

      The hearings then concluded. Judge Jay said that a verdict following a full trial would be handed down “quite soon,” despite his other commitments. He also stressed the importance of not disclosing the draft of his ruling.