Lewis Hamilton praised Susie Wolff in Melbourne for deciding to press charges against the FIA.
Susie Wolff, director of the F1 Academy Girls Championship, announced yesterday that she had filed a criminal complaint in a French court against the FIA over an investigation it launched against her and her husband Tot Wolff last year and closed shortly after without explanation.
Let’s recall that the FIA announced in December that it was opening an investigation into a possible conflict of interest between an employee of FOM (Formula One Management) and a representative of one of the teams who were said to have shared unspecified confidential information.
Although the FIA did not name anyone, there were reports that it was Susie Wolff, who as the head of the F1 Academy works for FOM, and her husband, the head of the Mercedes F1 team.
Not long after the FIA announced it was opening an investigation, all of Mercedes’ and Wolff’s competing F1 teams showed an unprecedented wave of solidarity when they issued more or less identical statements expressing their support for the parties under investigation.
The FIA eventually closed the investigation without further details, which Wolff did not like as she felt her integrity had been called into question without reason.
And precisely because the FIA had not yet explained the initiation of the investigation at that time, Wolffová decided to sue her.
This step has now been praised by Lewis Hamilton, according to whom the FIA has lacked transparency for a long time.
“First of all, I’m incredibly proud of Susie. She is so brave. He holds great values. She is a leading personality,” said the seven-time world champion to Wolff, according to Autosport.
“In a world where people are often silenced, the way she stood up to that is a great message. There is a great lack of accountability in this sport, and within the FIA,” Hamilton also said.
“Things that happen behind closed doors are not transparent. Apparently there is no liability. How then can we trust this sport? Let’s hope that the attitude she has now taken will cause a change and have a positive impact, especially for women,” said the Mercedes racer.
“We live in an age where the message is, ‘If you complain, you’ll get fired.’ That’s a terrible story that’s being projected into the world,” Hamilton added.
An overview of some recent F1 cases
December 2023: The FIA and the Wolffs’ possible conflict of interest investigation
February 2024: Red Bull employee accuses Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner of inappropriate behavior towards her
March 2024: FIA president faced investigation for allegedly influencing the results of the 2023 Saudi Arabian GP and interfering with the homologation of the Las Vegas circuit
