Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have backed Susie Wolff in her quest to get transparency and accountability from the FIA.
The winter of 2024 was full of dramas and amid host of stories, one included Toto and Susie Wolff too. It all started after a report on Business F1 magazine emerged of paddock chatter around the Wolffs and the apparent conflict of interest.
It was due to Susie being the head of F1 Academy (part of FOM) and Toto being a F1 team boss. The report suggested rival outfits questioning the intention, thereby alleging of passing of information between the husband and wife.
The FIA seemingly opened up the case without mentioning either of the Wolffs. It was handed to the Ethics Committee which eventually backed off after finding no big evidence. But the matter didn’t just end there as both Toto and Susie took offence.
The latter came up with a strong message against the heads of the FIA and has since filed a criminal complaint in the French court asking for accountability and transparency. She has taken it up to her image which was put into question in a media trial.
The move from Wolff is backed by Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Russell both. The former feels that the FIA hasn’t been transparent off-late and there is a situation of firing people who raise questions over decisions with no trust link at all.
“Firstly, I’m incredibly proud of Susie,” said Hamilton to media in Australia. “She’s so brave. She stands for such great values. She’s such a leader. In a world where often people are silenced, for her to be standing up sends such a great message. I love that she’s taking it out of this world, filing it from outside, because there is a real lack of accountability here within this sport, within the FIA.
“Things that are happening behind closed doors, there is no transparency, there is clearly no accountability and we need that, I think the fans need that. How can you trust the sport and what is happening here if you didn’t have that? Hopefully, this stand that she’s taken now will create change, have a positive impact, and especially for women.
“It is still a male-dominated sport and we’re living in the time where the message is ‘If you file a complaint, you’ll be fired’ and that is a terrible narrative to be projecting to the world. So, especially when we’re talking about inclusivity here in the sport, we need to make sure that we’re staying true to the core values here,” summed up Hamilton.
Mercedes teammate Russell was vocal too. The Brit concurred while talking about lack of accountability and transparency, leading to judgements and lack of trust too. “There is so much going on in the world of Formula 1 at the moment, often we are in our own bubble, we need to see in everything…accountability and transparency,” he said.
“That case in particular, that is no longer in the world of Formula 1, that’s in the real world and nothing further to say there. But for all of us, I think Lewis said in the last race that it is really an important moment for Formula 1 right now and you just want to see the right outcome, the truth and transparency within any case that is presented.
“As drivers we have the role…within the team to trust the leaders in this sport have the best interest at their heart rather than their own interests. It goes back to the transparency factor, if things are not transparent, when we see the outcome of these cases, we all have the chance to judge for ourselves with all of the facts and figures in front of us.
“But when we don’t have the facts and figures, and there is no transparency, you always think there’s something being hidden. That’s why it’s so important for the sport now to send the right message to everybody who’s supporting Formula 1, watching Formula 1, wants to be involved in Formula 1, that things aren’t just swept under the carpet,” summed up Russell.
Here’s what Susie Wolff said in her statement
Here’s Mercedes on learning from first two races
Here’s Mercedes on Pirelli analysing George Russell’s tyres
Here’s Oliver Bearman on help from Lewis Hamilton
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