Hamilton Surprised of Massa's Comments

Lewis Hamilton admitted on Friday that he feels surprised with Felipe Massa's comments regarding the crash gate. More than a week after the FIA handed the necessary penalties for the parties involved in the race-fixing scandal, Massa showed his frustration over the whole affair. In an interview with Brazilian TV station Globo, the Ferrari driver said he feels robbed of the 2008 F1 title.

“All of what happened was robbery - but regarding the race nothing has happened, the result remains the same. This is not right. The robbery changed the outcome of a championship and I lost (the title),” said Massa, who also blamed the FIA for not annulling the results of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix (like it would have happened in football, when a fixed match is immediately annulled).

Hearing about Massa's comments, Hamilton admitted his surprise, especially since the two have had a decent fight for the 2008 title until the last corner.

“It is my title and what people say doesn't bother me. I am a little surprised, because we had a very fair title fight over the course of the season,” Hamilton is quoted as saying to Germany's Bild newspaper from Suzuka.

Last month, only days after the verdict in the crash gate was made official by the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC), Hamilton argued that the 2008 title was his fair and square, regardless of what happened in Singapore. The McLaren driver argued his stand by the fact that he would have taken a different approach in the last 3 races of the season had the situation in the point standings been different after the Singapore race.

Hamilton eventually finished the race in 3rd place (equivalent of 6 points), while Massa walked out of Singapore point-less. In the end, he lost the title by a single point.