On the early Tuesday evening of December 5, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced that an investigation would be opened into Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff and his wife Susie Wolff. But why exactly? Let us summarize the complicated story.
Over the past weekend, Business F1 Magazine revealed that team bosses were concerned about the close ties between Toto Wolff, FOM and the FIA. The Austrian would have more information and would receive this information earlier than the rest of the team bosses. There would be a conflict of interest in obtaining this information, because Toto has direct family members and friends at FOM and the FIA, such as his wife Susie. The Scottish is the director of the F1 Academy, the championship for female drivers that was founded at the beginning of this year. She would know almost everything about the discussions between team bosses, something that is useful for FOM.
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Mercedes responds to FIA statement
Following the article by Business F1 Magazine, the FIA decided to investigate and said in a statement last Tuesday that it is “aware of media speculation regarding the allegation that a member of FOM staff information would have been passed on to an F1 team boss.” The motorsport association’s Compliance department is now investigating the matter. The Mercedes team responded to the statement that same evening. The German racing team was surprised that the FIA had started an investigation based on one media report and that the FIA had not first discussed the investigation with them. Mercedes, just like the media and fans, only found out through the statement that an investigation was being initiated. “We completely reject the claim in the statement and the associated media attention as it wrongly affects the integrity and compliance of our team principal,” Mercedes said.
FOM and Susie Wolff also respond to research
Formula One Management immediately joined Mercedes: “We take note of the public statement made by the FIA this evening, which was not shared with us in advance. We have full confidence that the allegations are incorrect.” Late in the evening, Susie Wolff also decided to respond to the investigation: “I am deeply offended, but unfortunately not surprised, by the public accusations made this evening. It is disheartening that my integrity is being questioned in this way, especially since it seems to come from a place of intimidating and misogynistic behavior, and focuses on my marital status rather than my capabilities.” Toto’s wife rejects the accusations in the strongest possible way, she describes.
Confidential figures shared or not?
Last Wednesday, Auto Motor und Sport reported that ‘a participant’ sitting at the F1 Commission – the meeting of all involved parties in Formula 1 that met during the race weekend in Abu Dhabi – confirmed that such an incident of information leakage had in fact took place. Toto Wolff is said to have mentioned figures that could emerge from the audits for the budget ceiling investigations. But normally, neither team is allowed to know how the competition does business. The auditors’ findings are therefore strictly confidential. These are therefore figures that Wolff should not have in his hands at all. Car Motor and Sport subsequently checked this with a team boss, who remained anonymous, and he contradicts this and says that Wolff has not said anything that raised concerns during recent meetings.
Research also comes as a surprise to Red Bull
Since the concerns that Business F1 Magazine wrote about came from an anonymous source, the question arose as to which team boss had reported to the FIA. Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner was the first to come out to Sky Sports to say that the complaints did not come from him: “We of course have a big rivalry on the track, but we have not filed an official complaint or anything like that against Susie or Toto or even Mercedes at the FIA. In fact, Red Bull Racing has been involved in setting up the F1 Academy, even to the point that the two Red Bull teams will manage three cars. So we are working well with Susie , which we believe is doing well at the F1 Academy. We, like others, are quite surprised by yesterday’s statement and that was not initiated, initiated or devised by Red Bull.”
What now?
Each team then shared the same statement en masse on Wednesday evening just after half past six Dutch time. They jointly stated that they have “not filed any complaint with the FIA regarding the allegation that confidential information was passed between a Formula 1 team principal and an FOM employee. We are pleased and proud to support the F1 Academy and its general director through our commitment to sponsor a competitor in our colors from next season.” The question therefore remains who has gone to the FIA. Or perhaps it is better to ask the question: has anyone gone to the FIA at all? Has the international motorsport association really started an investigation based purely on one speculative article? It is not known how this investigation is currently proceeding, and it remains to be seen what conclusions will be drawn and what the consequences will be.
2023-12-07 15:59:55
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