Felipe Massa's barrister has accused former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone and former FIA president of "deliberate concealment" of the events in Singapore 2008.

"The first point is that it is no exaggeration to say the deliberate crash was one of the most serious incidents of sport manipulation in world sport," claimed Massa's barrister Nick de Marco KC, of the crash involving Renault driver Nelson Piquet.

"Not only because it was a blatant attempt to intervene in the race," he continued, "but the deliberate act threatened the life of spectators and the driver himself."

In a 2023 interview with the German website F1-Insider, Ecclestone said that he and Mosley were aware of what had happened - in that Piquet had been told to deliberately crash in a bid to aid his teammate Fernando Alonso - but "decided not to do anything for the time being", adding that he and the FIA president "wanted to protect the sport and save it from a huge scandal".

"What then happens is the deliberate concealment of the conspiracy to have a crash," said de Marco, "the deliberate concealment by those with responsibility for protecting the integrity of the sport, deliberately conspiring together to cover up one of the most serious scandals in the history of sport."

Having previously said that his comment may have been misinterpreted by a journalist whose first language is not English, Ecclestone now claims that he doesn't even recall giving the interview.

The pre-trial has now concluded and it will now be decided if Massa's case will stand up to a full trial or will simply be dismissed.