The former Maranello driver revealed that in 2009, shortly before the infamous Hungarian GP incident and a year before the Spaniard’s debut with Ferrari, he had told journalists that Alonso was aware of his former Renault teammate’s premeditated crash in Singapore.

In his witness statement this week during the preliminary hearings, the Brazilian stated: “In October 2009 I also told journalists that I believed Fernando Alonso knew it (the crash) was on purpose.”

Following this, Massa revealed that he received a letter a few days later from a Ferrari lawyer, issuing a public reprimand for what he had said.

Finally, Massa was asked to make a public statement, which he refused to do: “Ferrari then drafted a statement for me to issue but I refused to make that statement. Instead, I just said that it was time to look to the future.”

This week, the preliminary hearings began, which will determine whether a full trial will follow. Massa and his legal team are seeking substantial compensation for the championship lost as a result of the outcome of the 2008 Singapore GP.

On one side of the legal battle is the Brazilian driver and his lawyers, while on the other are the FIA, FOM, and former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

The first exchanges didn’t hold back, with the FIA stating that, “Mr Massa's claim is as torturous as it is overly ambitious,” also highlighting how the defense “conspicuously overlooks a catalogue of his own errors or those of his team, Ferrari, during the Singapore GP and at other GPs.”