The FIA’s compliance department has reportedly started investigating into a potential ‘conflict of interest’ matter that involves Mercedes’ team principal, Toto Wolff and his wife, Susie Wolff who heads up the F1 Academy.
While Wolff heads the Formula 1 operations for Mercedes as an independent Constructor, his wife, Susie is the managing director of the F1 Academy which comes under the direct holding of the Formula 1 group and effectively under Liberty Media, the sport’s commercial rights holder.
The bone of contention leading up to the investigation is the fact that Wolff may be privy to certain confidential information that would not be accessible through the regular channels to the other team bosses and paddock insiders. Naturally, the conflict of interest arises from the perspective of Wolff having the inside-line about F1’s operations that might place him advantageously against his rivals.
Another point of contention is the fact that Wolff may be involved in passing off critical information about the team’s to F1’s upper echelons. This has caused a huge hue and cry amongst the wider stakeholder groups of the teams.
Toto Wolff’ s loyalties questioned as the pressure mounts on the FIA to take action
Transparency is key in a sport like F1. With such high stakes, Wolff’s ‘compromised‘ position has given rise to speculation that he may be supplying confidential information discussed in team principals’ meetings to the other side i.e., the FOM.
According to the report, “A report in BusinessF1 magazine suggested that a comment Wolff made in a recent team principal meeting, based on information that could only have come from FOM, acted as the trigger point for other bosses to complain.”
This has led to the other team principals reportedly pressurizing the FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem to take strict action. In response, the FIA released a statement earlier this week which read, “The FIA is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM personnel. The FIA Compliance Department is looking into the matter.”
The matter remains sub-judice with the compliance department, as of the time of writing. However, the findings of the committee could have great ramifications for the sport given the high-profile of the individuals involved.
