MPH: Susie Wolff exposes F1 fault line where troubles run deep
F1
Investigations involving Christian Horner and Mohammed Ben Sulayem, plus a criminal complaint by Susie Wolff, shows all is not well beneath the glitzy surface of F1, says Mark Hughes. And the series seems to have its head in the sand
Susie Wolff has filed a criminal complaint in France after an FIA probe into unsubstantiated allegations involving her and husband Toto that confidential information was being shared
Another F1 weekend, another skirmish. No sooner had the FIA announced that its President had been cleared by its ethics committee of intervention in two matters outside of his remit, than Susie Wolff released a statement confirming she had filed a criminal complaint in the French courts relating to “statements made against me by the FIA” in December of last year. It’s believed the complaint claims a criminal conspiracy to defame her, as the MD of the F1-aligned Formula Academy female race series.
Coming hot on the heels of the Red Bull female employee’s case against Christian Horner, it seems there are constant lightning bolts off-track but routine predictability on it.
These are not isolated cases. There is ill-will and a fundamental difference in world view behind them – and it’s a conflict that is simply reflecting that of the outside world. It would be unwise of F1 not to take heed of this, because it isn’t simply going to go away and allow it to just rack up the dollars while paying lip service to the changes. F1 is fantastically commercially successful right now but the fruit is showing every sign of being over-ripe. Its massive fan base is split between traditionalists and a younger, more egalitarian, generation. It reached out to that younger generation – as it needed to, to keep the business vibrant. But that has only further underlined the fault line on which the sport sits.
Investigations involving Christian Horner and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem are among the ructions unsettling F1
Peter Fox/F1 via Getty Images
The societal changes are the tectonic plates of history moving and F1 won’t be able to stand with a foot in each territory as that fault line opens up into a canyon. With the realistic prospect of a Saudi-owned F1 in the near-future, there isn’t a universal direction of travel. F1 won’t be able to do the splits. The world has been moving in a troubling way towards extremism and forced suppression and a building rebellion against that. The Horner and the Susie Wolff cases are not just isolated niggles but are absolutely part of those tectonic societal movements.
It feels like F1 is currently pretending that isn’t happening as the dollars roll in like never before. The ugly break-outs on the glitzy surface are not isolated random events. There are deep rumbles beneath them.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem has been cleared over allegations of interfering with the result of an F1 race and attempting to derail the Las Vegas GP. Explore the various controversies in his tumultuous time as FIA's president
By
Motor Sport
Susie Wolff’s filing of her complaint represents the outside world being pulled into the sport because it’s not doing a good enough job in monitoring itself. ‘Independent committees’ investigating complaints and just giving a black box yes/no outcome with no further explanation or transparency just do not cut it.
“I love that she’s taken it out of this world,” said Lewis Hamilton yesterday of Wolff’s action, “because there is a real lack of accountability here, within this sport, within the FIA. There are 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 every day if you don’t have that? And especially for women, you know, it is still a male-dominated sport.
“We’re living in a 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.”
