Lewis Hamilton could be stripped of his first F1 title as rival begins legal action

Lewis Hamilton could lose his first-ever Formula 1 world title as his rival has reportedly started legal action.

Back in 2008, Felipe Massa and Hamilton were going head to head for the F1 world title.

In what was an intensely dramatic end to the season, Hamilton won the title by just one point.

During the last race of the season in Brazil, there was a controversial moment where Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr crashed, which helped teammate Fernando Alonso win the race.

This incident was labelled ‘Crashgate’ as it ultimately denied Massa a world title.

Now, according to Reuters, Massa is seeking legal action after it was reported that the crash could have been planned.

London-based Enyo Law claimed that Massa is "the victim of a conspiracy committed by individuals at the highest level of F1 together with the FIA and Formula One Management”.

The Brazilian’s lawyers said in a letter: “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.

“Mr Massa is unable to fully quantify his losses at this stage but estimates that they are likely to exceed tens of millions of Euros.”

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It continued: “This amount does not cover the serious moral and reputational losses suffered by Mr Massa.”

A spokesperson for F1’s governing body, the FIA, said they have acknowledged the ‘correspondence’ from Massa’s legal team and stated: “The matter is under review and we will not be providing comment at this stage.”

Back in May, Massa told Reuters: “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.”

F1 will return next weekend with the Dutch Grand Prix, which will take place in Zandvoort.