Felipe Massa has made a sharp u-turn in the continuing fallout to the Crashgate scandal after accusing his 2010 team-mate Fernando Alonso of being in the know as Renault plotted to fix last year's Singapore GP.
Alonso, who recently signed a three-year deal with Ferrari that will see him partner Massa next season, benefited from Renault's shenanigans in Singapore when his then team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr deliberately crashed, helping Alonso to the race win.
The scandal, which only came to light 12 months later, shocked many in the F1 community. A furious Massa subsequently claimed that the fix "robbed" him of the 2008 title.
While Renault were handed a two-year suspended ban and those involved banned from the sport, Alonso escaped sanctions after the FIA's World Motor Sport Council ruled that the Spaniard had been kept out of the loop.
But Massa is claimed to have disputed the court's verdict.
"It was the team and Nelson - but Alonso was part of the problem. He knew. We can not know it but of course he knew. It's an absolute certainty," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
With the remarks bound to sour relationship between the future Ferrari team-mates, the team have sought to lessen the damage by issuing a a statement of clarification from Massa. Tellingly, however, Massa has refused to categorically withdraw his accusation.
"What I've said is the outcome of a hunch I've had and is not based on any concrete evidence," the Brazilian told the team's official website.
"The FIA World Council announced there was no indication that Fernando may have been informed of what had happened and I respect this outcome.
"What is certain is that this episode will not mar in any way the relationship I'll have with Fernando when we will be team-mates."
That hope, though, may prove somewhat optimistic.
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