Lewis Hamilton could lose one of his Formula One world titles following controversial comments

Lewis Hamilton is in danger of losing his first drivers' world championship, after he was threatened with legal action, following controversial comments.

Unlike most people right now, Hamilton believes that he will become an eight times world champion, leaving Michael Schumacher's seven in his wake.

The 37-year-old's current form isn't capable of winning the title this year, and there's plenty of talk he won't be in Mercedes in the following seasons.

He did improve his form at the weekend, finishing second in Australia, but the pace shown by Max Verstappen's Red Bull is pretty scary right now.

Of course, without the Red Bulls and, in particular, Verstappen, Hamilton may have already been crowned a world champion more than seven times.

The ending to the 2021 championship still irks those with an affiliation to the British driver, losing in more farcical circumstances than the end of the weekend's race.

However, Hamilton also won a world title on the final lap of a season, when he captured his first one back in 2008, beating Felipe Massa in the Ferrari driver's home race in Brazil.

Now the Brazilian has threatened legal action over the Singapore Grand Prix from that year, when Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr crashed on purpose in order to help teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.

Massa finished 13th, as a result of the aftermath of the crash, with Hamilton second, a result that would have changed where the title went.

Piquet's crash was found out to be on purpose. Image: Alamy

The 41-year-old, who left F1 in 2017, has been given hope due to recent controversial quotes by former CEO of the sport Bernie Ecclestone.

"According to the statutes, we should have cancelled the race in Singapore under these conditions," the 92-year-old told F1 Insider recently.

"That means it would never have happened for the championship standings. And then Felipe Massa would have become world champion and not Lewis Hamilton."

Massa has now responded to the comments, telling Motorsport.com how the new comments have changed what he was told 15 years ago.

Massa after losing the title race. Image: Alamy

"There is a rule that says that when a championship is decided, from the moment the driver receives the champion's trophy, things can no longer be changed, even if it has been proven a theft," he began.

"At the time, Ferrari's lawyers told me about this rule. We went to other lawyers and the answer was that nothing could be done. So I logically believed in this situation. But after 15 years, we hear that the [former] owner of the category says that he found out in 2008, together with the president of the FIA, and they did nothing [so as] to not tarnish the name of F1.

"This is very sad, to know the result of this race was supposed to be cancelled and I would have a title. In the end, I was the one who lost the most with this result. So, we are going after it to understand all this. There are rules, and there are many things that, depending on the country, you cannot go back after 15 years to resolve a situation.

"But I intend to study the situation; study what the laws say, and the rules. We have to have an idea of what is possible to do. I would never go after it thinking financially. I would go after it thinking about justice. I think if you've been punished for something that wasn't your fault, and it's the product of a robbery, a stolen race, justice has to be served. In fact, the right situation is to cancel the result of that race. It is the only justice that can be done in a case like this."

Any legal action to one of Hamilton's titles would surely lead to the former McLaren driver doing similar for the 2021 title, especially with the sport having officially agreed he didn't win it due to human error by race director Michael Masi.

His first title win was as dramatic as that title loss, with Massa finishing the race in Brazil as world champion, only for Timo Glock's car issues to allow the Brit to finish fifth and win the title.