1 day Ago By Keith Collantine
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has criticised his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner’s reaction to a short-lived FIA investigation concerning his team in December last year. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Within the space of 48 hours last December, the FIA’s Compliance Department announced it was looking into an alleged conflict of interest between an F1 team principal and a member of Formula One Management, then declared no investigation was taking place . Wolff and his wife Susie Wolff, who is the CEO of all-female junior series F1 Academy, were understood to be the subject of the FIA probe.
The sudden conclusion to the investigation came one day after all nine of Mercedes’ rival F1 teams publicly declared they had raised no concerns regarding the team . Wolff said he was gratified by the speed with which his rivals, led by Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, organised their reaction. “The response was great,” he said.
“I didn’t make a single phone call to any team. Fred took it into his hands and said: ‘This is just so unfair’. From Guenther Steiner [Haas team principal at the time] to James Vowles [Mercedes’ former strategy chief who now runs Williams] everybody jumped on to this.
” However Wolff claimed Horner initially resisted putting his name to the same statement as the eight other teams. “They were all ready, but for Christian, to sign a document in our support,” he claimed. “As far as I understand it he said: ‘I’m having my own Sky interview and I’m going to say I’m not part of it.
I’m not signing the document.’ The other nine teams said: ‘Fine.’ But obviously he was advised that wouldn’t look great and he should be part of the statement.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free “In the second iteration, he tried to get the word ‘official’ in the statement. He wanted a note to say that no one [among the team principals] officially complained to the FIA. The other teams said: ‘Fine.
We do our declaration and you do your own.’ At the end, he signed it.” Susie Wolff said in March she is taking legal action in France “in relation to the statements made about me by the FIA last December.
” Last week a report emerged that Paolo Basarri, the head of the FIA’s Compliance Division during its investigation of Mercedes, had left the governing body . The rivalry between the Mercedes and Red Bull bosses has only cooled slightly since it peaked in 2021 when their drivers Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton fought over the world championship. Toto Wolff is understood to have pursued Verstappen this year as a potential replacement for the Ferrari-bound Hamilton, despite the reigning champion being officially contracted to his current team until 2028.
In September, after Horner suggested Red Bull could target Mercedes driver George Russell as a replacement for the struggling Sergio Perez, Wolff accused his opposite number of “stirring shit up.” Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads.
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