SINGAPORE – Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa’s legal action against Formula One and the motorsport’s governing body FIA will “set a precedent”, said Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who revealed on Friday that the Silver Arrows are following the case “with interest”.

Massa, who retired in 2017, has vowed to fight to be declared 2008 F1 world champion instead of Lewis Hamilton, and is seeking substantial damages resulting from an alleged “conspiracy” that denied him the title.

Massa was leading the inaugural 2008 Singapore Grand Prix when fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed his Renault into the wall. This triggered a safety car that benefited his teammate Fernando Alonso, who won the race while Massa failed to score a point after a bungled pit stop.

Hamilton, racing for McLaren then, eventually beat Massa by a point for the first of his record-equalling seven championships.

Asked about Massa’s legal case on Friday, Wolff said it’s “clearly not something that anyone saw coming”, adding: “The rules are pretty clear in Formula One, there’s a civil case behind it. It will certainly set a precedent, whatever it is. We’re looking from the sidelines with curiosity.”

While he did not elaborate, Mercedes have reason to feel aggrieved too after the controversial end to the 2021 season.

At that year’s last race in Abu Dhabi, race director Michael Masi changed the safety-car procedure, a move that allowed Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pass Hamilton late and win his maiden world championship, denying Hamilton a record eighth title in the process.

The FIA confirmed “human error” was a factor in the 2021 title controversy, but said that Masi – who has since been replaced as race director – acted in “good faith” and the results are “valid, final and cannot now be changed”.

Wolff referenced that when pressed further for comment on Friday, saying: “The FIA commented on the 2021 race with a clear statement. So that’s why we’re looking at it with interest.”

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown was also asked for his view on the 2008 incident, with Hamilton having won that season’s title with them.

Brown said: “We’ve not been contacted. I’ve not been asked about it, it’s the first time I’ve been asked about it – so it doesn’t really involve today’s McLaren, so a little surprised it’s come up now.”

Out on the track on Friday, Ferrari showed that they will be no pushovers this weekend, finishing one-two in both practice sessions as they seek to end Verstappen’s record of 10 consecutive race wins.

The Scuderia’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led the Dutchman in the first practice session, which was interrupted thrice by monitor lizards traversing the trimmed Marina Bay track.

On the 2023 circuit of 4.94km – slightly shorter than 2022’s 5.063km – Leclerc clocked the fastest lap of the first session in 1min 33.350sec.

In slightly cooler conditions in the second practice session, Sainz was top in 1:32.120, followed by Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell. They were more than 13 seconds quicker than the fastest lap set by Russell in the 2022 race.

Verstappen had another reptilian encounter at the Marina Bay circuit on Friday, seven years after coming across a “giant lizard” at the Singapore GP, which resulted in his race engineer humorously saying then that the Dutchman came “face to face with Godzilla”.

On Friday, after Verstappen said, “There’s a lizard again on the track. A smaller one this time” over the team radio, Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase responded: “Understood. Maybe Godzilla had a kid.”

Hamilton and Russell also reported sightings of the big lizards.