For Fred Vasseur, the “Wolff/FIA” affair was an embarrassment for F1

Last week, the FIA announced that its compliance service was investigating a potential conflict of interest between a team director and an employee of the FOM, amid dubious allegations that Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, and F1 Academy director, Susie Wolff, had exchanged confidential information.

Frederic Vasseur estimated that the whole saga was quite embarrassing and unnecessary, as the FIA ended up clearing the Wolffs shortly after making the investigation public. I think this story is quite embarrassing for our sport. Before continuing, the story started with an article in a newspaper, I don’t know if newspaper is the right word. And I think in this situation, when you talk about an individual, you have to be careful with what you say.

« I think it would have been appropriate on the part of the FIA. They needed 24 hours between the first announcement and the second announcement. It would have been logical to use the 24 hours before the first announcement to investigate, in order to avoid any wrong conclusion ».

The investigation was launched following suggestions that rival teams had complained about the Wolffs to the FIA, but one day later, the other nine competitors published a coordinated message supporting Susie Wolff and denying that they were behind the investigation.

Vasseur emphasized that if something positive came out of the whole saga, it was that the 10 teams were united on a certain subject, which is rare in F1.

« After last week’s incident, at least the teams were very united. […] My first conclusion is that we were able to act together and it’s not very often that even Red Bull was supporting Toto! »

« And honestly, I think it’s a good point for us too to take a stance and discuss with the other stakeholders. I think it’s the first time that the teams collectively show something like this.