Susie Wolff has taken legal action against motorsport’s governing body the FIA following its controversial conflict of interest inquiry into her last year.
Wolff is the director of the F1 Academy series for aspiring female drivers and wife of Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
Wolff said she had filed “a criminal complaint in the French courts in relation to the statements made about me by the FIA last December”.
“There has still not been any transparency or accountability in the relation to the conduct of the FIA and its personnel in this matter,” she said.
Wolff added: “I feel more than ever it is important to stand up, call out improper behaviour and make sure people are held to account. While some may think silence absolves them from responsibility – it does not.”
Wolff said she had lodged the case in France on 4 March.
The FIA has been approached for a comment.
What is this about?
Wolff’s legal case revolves around an inquiry launched by the FIA into a magazine’s claims that rivals believed her relationship with her husband presented a conflict of interest in the sport.
Two days after announcing its compliance department was looking into the matter, the FIA ended its investigation, saying it was “satisfied” F1 had measures in place to protect against such issues.
The withdrawal of the inquiry came after an extraordinary sequence of events which left senior figures in F1 questioning the judgement of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
Neither Mercedes, the Wolffs nor F1 were contacted before the FIA announced it had referred an “allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM [Formula One Management] personnel” to its compliance unit.
The statement followed an article in Business F1 magazine claiming a number of team principals had raised concerns with the FIA about the potential for confidential information passing between Mercedes and F1 through the Wolffs.
In her position as head of F1’s junior category for aspiring female drivers, Susie Wolff reports directly to F1 president Stefano Domenicali.
The FIA’s decision to launch the compliance inquiry led to robust statements from F1 and Mercedes rejecting the accusations and making clear their frustration with the FIA’s handling of the matter.
Susie Wolff said she was “deeply insulted but sadly unsurprised” by the claims, and described the allegations as “intimidatory and misogynistic” in a social media post.
The following day, all nine other F1 teams issued co-ordinated, identically worded statements clarifying they had made no complaints to the FIA about the Wolffs’ relationship and were “pleased and proud to support F1 Academy and its managing director”.
The F1 team statements seemed to undermine the basis for both the article and the FIA’s investigation.
Concerns about consistency
The FIA’s actions in the Wolff case contrast with its behaviour regarding the controversy over allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against Red Bull team principal Christian Horner by a female employee.
Horner, 50, has always denied the claims. Red Bull dismissed the complaint after an internal investigation and have since suspended the employee who made them.
When the FIA learned about claims regarding Toto and Susie Wolff, it put out a statement saying that it was “aware of media speculation centred on the allegation”.
In contrast, with regard to Horner, despite two whistleblower complaints and an official complaint by the Red Bull female employee, the FIA has refused to say whether it is looking into his behaviour.
The FIA said in a statement last week: “Enquiries 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.
“As a consequence, and in general, we are unable to confirm the receipt of any specific complaint and it is unlikely that we will be able to provide further comment on the complaints that we may receive from any parties.”
Prior to issuing that statement, the FIA had failed to respond to a series of emails, messages and calls from BBC Sport on the matter over a period of eight days.
Meanwhile, over the course of the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, Ben Sulayem approached Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and said he should make a public statement supporting Horner.
Verstappen responded, sources close to the world champion have told BBC Sport, by telling Ben Sulayem he should launch his own investigation into the matter.
Ben Sulayem took this action after Verstappen gave equivocal answers to questions in a news conference as to whether Horner had his full faith and confidence as Red Bull team owner.