F1 Gold | How a stuck fuel pipe dashed Felipe Massa's 2008 championship hopes

Did you know that Brazilian Felipe Massa is known as 2008's 30-second Formula 1 champion?

Massa crossed the finish line in first place at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix - the position he needed to secure that year's championship. There was jubilation in the Ferrari garage, and the crowd went crazy upon realising that Massa was the country's first F1 champion since the late Ayrton Senna.

Sadly, title rival Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) managed to secure fifth place - the position he needed to become F1's youngest champion at the time. It was a bitter pill for Massa and the thousands of fans who had their hopes and dreams dashed.

However, Massa's 2008 championship challenge has been hanging on a knife's edge the entire season, and he was on the back foot from the start. But it all went out the window at the 2008 Singapore GP...

Massa, whoa!

Coming into the Singapore race, Massa trailed Hamilton by one point: 77 vs 78. Those years, F1 still used the old points system (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1), rewarding only the top 8 finishers. The current system came into play in 2010.

After the season's opening two races, Hamilton already amassed 14 points, while Massa came away with zero - be it through driver error or a technical gremlin.

Still, the Brazilian clawed his way up the championship order to come within striking distance of Hamilton. And Singapore, the fourth-last race of the year, should have been the GP where the pendulum finally swung in Massa's favour.

Securing pole position, Massa started the race from the front and led it by a comfortable margin. Until Lap 12. The driver came into the Ferrari pits for fresh tyres and to refuel, but a(nother) technical issue saw him relinquish the lead and finish the race in 13th