The brief investigation towards Susie and Toto Wolff by the FIA was “quite embarrassing” for Formula 1, according to Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, who also believes the FIA should have conducted a private investigation.
Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
An article from ‘BusinessF1’ said that suspicions arose that Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, and his wife Susie, who manages the FOM F1 Academy, had shared sensitive information. It prompted the FIA’s compliance department to announce last week that it was investigating a possible conflict of interest involving a team principle and an employee of FOM.
After strong statements from them, F1 and all other nine teams denying making any complaints, the matter was dropped less than 48 hours later. The Wolffs claimed that the public nature of the investigation had damaged their reputation.
The whole affair was “quite embarrassing” and needless, according to Wolff’s Ferrari counterpart Vasseur, as the FIA cleared the Wolffs soon after going public with the investigation.
When asked about his concerns over the event and its potential impact on the already tense relationship between FOM and the FIA, Vasseur said:“I think this story is quite embarrassing for our sport.
“The story started with an article in a newspaper, I don’t know if newspaper is the right word. And I think in this situation when you are speaking about an individual, you have to take care of what you are saying.
“I think it would have been appropriate from the FIA; they needed 24 hours between the [first] announcement and the second announcement. It would have made sense to use the 24 hours before the first announcement [to investigate], to avoid any bad conclusions.”
The investigation began when other teams allegedly complained about the Wolffs to the FIA; however, the next day, all nine teams issued a joint statement supporting Susie Wolff and denied any involvement in the probe.
Vasseur said that the one positive outcome of the entire situation was the unusual display of unity among all ten teams on a specific subject, which is extremely unusual in Formula 1.
“After the ‘incident’ of last week at least the teams were very united,” he added.
“The first conclusion for me is that we were able to act together and it’s not very often that even Red Bull was supportive of Toto.
“And honestly, I think it’s a good point for us also to take position and to discuss with the other stakeholders. I think it’s the first time the teams together showed something like this.”
