Mercedes and F1 have reacted strongly to an alleged conflict of interest claim against Toto and Susie Wolff.
The FIA Compliance Department is investigating the matter said to have arisen from a comment made by Toto Wolff during a recent team principals’ meeting, the source of which, it is claimed, could only have been from an employee of Formula One Management.
Toto Wolff is the team principal of Mercedes, whilst wife Susie is managing director of the F1 Academy, run by commercial rights holders Liberty Media, and as such, is said to be privy to internal F1 information.
Following Toto Wolff’s remark, it is understood the FIA was alerted to the matter by other team principals present at the meeting.
A statement from the FIA 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.”
This has drawn the ire of F1 which later issued a strongly worded response rejecting the FIA’s claim, in particular, as it was in the dark that motorsport’s world governing body had released its statement without prior warning.
An F1 statement read: “We note the public statement made by the FIA this evening that was not shared with us in advance.
“We have complete confidence that the allegations are wrong, and we have robust processes and procedures that ensure the segregation of information and responsibilities in the event of any potential conflict of interest.
“We are confident that no member of our team has made any unauthorised disclosure to a team principal and would caution anyone against making imprudent and serious allegations without substance.”
Mercedes has vehemently defended team boss Toto Wolff from the accusations made in a report in BusinessF1 magazine.
“We note the generic statement from the FIA this evening, which responds to unsubstantiated allegations from a single media outlet, and the off-record briefing which has linked it to the team principal of Mercedes-AMG F1,” read a statement.
“The team has received no communication from the FIA Compliance Department on this topic and it was highly surprising to learn of the investigation through a media statement.
“We wholly reject the allegation in the statement and associated media coverage, which wrongly impinges on the integrity and compliance of our team principal.
“As a matter of course, we invite full, prompt, and transparent correspondence from the FIA Compliance Department regarding this investigation and its contents.”
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