There's no doubt that there has been a large amount of whistle blowing throughout the Formula One pit lane towards the end of 2023 and into the start of 2024, most notably Susie Wolff who has helped provide a large space in motorsport for women and young girls.
Even in years like this where the equality for women in the STEM sector seems to be becoming a normality, there are still individuals in the industry to turn them down. But this former racing driver won't let this happen without a fight.
It all started December 2023. Trade magazine, Business F1, had claimed that other team principals alleged Susie Wolff of passing information regarding 'information of a confidential nature' to her husband, Toto Wolff who is the current team principal for Mercedes Petronas AMG Formula One Team. The FIA announced soon after that they would have 'the FIA Compliance Department' look into the matter (cnn.com).
This proved to be a large issue as the F1 Academy Managing Director is employed by F1's commercial rights holder and her reports should only pass through to F1 President Stefano Domenicali . What's strange is that F1, Mercedes or the Wolffs were not even contacted before the announcement was released with this allegation.
Once this information had slipped into the media's hand, it didn't take long for each team to produce a statement denying that they had complained. All of these statements were identical to each other but more importantly, completely contrasting the article and the FIA's supposed 'investigation' into the case.
Susie Wolff described this situation as "intimidatory and misogynistic" and that she was "deeply insulted but sadly unsurprised" by the severity of the issue, which could've suspended her position in the academy.
Since this had all occurred, nothing else was mentioned about the matter. The only comment received by the FIA was a simple line iterating that they were "satisfied" that measures were taken to protect against these issues (bbc.co.uk). Notice there was no apology to Ms. Wolff herself? This was up until the 20th March 2024 where Susie Wolff took to social media to bring light back to the matter, clearly noticing the FIA's lack of support for one of their most decelerated members.
In this statement, she's clearly recognised on the absence of comment from the FIA and their senior officials, ending the post with how "silence absolves them from responsibility - it does not." One of the most poignant parts of this post.
This new criminal complaint is fitting in accordance with French Law which is where the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile is situated, and can legally be held in a court of law.
However it seems that FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has been busy with his own case made against him. This was only cleared a few days prior to this Instagram post as he was accused of tampering with last years Saudi Arabian Grand Prix results and blocking the rights for the Las Vegas Grand Prix to go ahead as planned. His own ethics committee may have let him off the hook but many senior FIA officials are slowly losing faith in their leader.
This has been further commented on by 7-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton. Currently driving for the Mercedes team led by Mr. Wolff, he is due to leave the team after 12 years to join the Italian team in red: Ferrari.
He added "There's a real lack of accountability here, within the sport. There are things happening behind closed doors, there is no transparency...we need that, the fans need that" (metro.co.uk). It makes you wonder how the sport can carry on with the way things are transpiring at the moment.
He praised Susie's actions, moving further to say that "hopefully this stand that she's taking will have a positive impact , especially for women" and how he believes the message being perceived is that "if you file a complaint, you will be fired", something which was certainly on the table for Ms. Wolff.
Hamilton is the only current driver on the Formula One grid who has discussed this inquiry ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. This doesn't seem uncommon in his character as he has been forthright about many issues like the 'Black Lives Matter' campaign in 2020, which was fully supported by the rest of the grid at that time.
Why Is This At All Important?
In this case, it shows that the FIA clearly don't believe they have the right to be held accountable of this type of defamation. There's no doubt that Formula One has been circulating more in national and international news than ever before, after Christian Horner had a complaint made about him by a female colleague, accusing him of 'inappropriate behaviour' before the start of the 2024 season.
This was strongly rejected by the Red Bull Racing team principal and assured the public that there would be no kind of suspension ahead of their car launch. Although this would soon be taken into an independent investigation away from the sport, it seems strange that the FIA didn't jump onto this as quickly as they did with Susie Wolff. Even as of this article being released, no mention has been made by the governing body about looking into his behaviour except for one quote below:
"At the FIA, enquires and complaints are received and managed by the Compliance Officer, and the Ethics Committee where appropriate. Both bodies operate autonomously, guaranteeing strict confidentiality throughout the process ... it is unlikely that we will be able to provide further comment on the complaints."
It didn't take long for the entire grievance to be dismissed, just before the Bahrain Grand Prix season opener. Conditions ended up spiraling, screenshots and photographs were allegedly sent to journalists and FIA officials anonymously. It was turning out to be a full-scale power war.
The female employee has since been suspended on full-pay but appealing the teams decision to disregard her complaint.
It makes you think whether the FIA favour particular members in the sport than others, a bold statement but certainly something that should be questioned in future investigations, and whatever outcome each of this situations end up with.
Susie Wolff has always been a strong character when she was involved in Formula One alongside her husband and even more so with the construction of the F1 Academy group which has already held it inaugural race for 2024 in Saudi Arabia and will join Formula One's weekends for another 6 rounds. It already shows the steps that are being made to ensure that women and young girls are included in the pinnacle of motorsport as high-profile drivers.
She has represented the minority of females in the sport for a long time which is growing larger and larger through the years, but in order to keep this respect it's imperative that everyone takes a stand when it is lost to the hands of individuals in charge of these categories which span wider than Formula One. Advocacy and motivation can be spread through the likes of social media to buffer the voices of negativity and sexism to prove that they belong in the sport, whether that be as engineers, journalists or technical directors. And that they've not going to be leaving anytime soon.
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