F1 WOLFFS AT FIA’S DOOR
Toto warns Formula One chiefs wife Susie is on the warpath
TOTO WOLFF backed wife Susie’s lawsuit against the FIA and warned F1’s governing body: “She will fight all the way”.
F1 Academy chief Susie announced a criminal complaint against the Paris-based organisation this week.
She is furious over the FIA’s declaration of an investigation into a potential conflict of interest between her role and that of her husband, Mercedes boss Toto.
It was quickly found that no confidential information had been passed between them and the FIA ended its brief probe.
Legal
But the fact wrongdoing was suggested publicly has prompted her to begin a legal fight.
And her husband is certain she won’t be backing down.
Toto said: “Susie is a strong woman and she doesn’t take anything from anyone.
“She has always followed through on her convictions and values, and that is the case here. She is very unemotional about it, and pragmatic, and she feels wrong was done and the court needs to hear that.
“Nothing is going to bring her off that path, that is how her character is.
“Susie started that process many months ago and has done it very diligently. She will go all the way.
“It matters for her most to find out what happened and people take accountability and responsibility and things are not brushed under the carpet.
He continued: “And we, as a sport, need to do that in all areas whether that is Susie’s case or some cases with the other teams.”
Mrs Wolff’s decision to take legal action has been backed by Lewis Hamilton, who bemoaned “a real lack of accountability within the FIA”.
And team-mate George Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, has demanded transparency from the governing body.
Experiment
Meanwhile, Mercedes are hoping to find more pace on the track at this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
The team promised to experiment with their car set-ups in practice yesterday and that’s exactly what they did.
But they surely won’t replicate whatever they did to Hamilton’s car for FP2, which meant the 39-year-old was the second slowest car on track.
Speaking afterwards, the Briton described it as “one of the worst sessions I’ve probably had for a long time”.
Russell fared better than Hamilton and, as has been the case in the early weeks of this new season, looked more comfortable with the car than his seven-time world champion team-mate.
Team boss Wolff confirmed yesterday that, despite their best efforts, Mercedes had not managed to make any notable improvements to the car just yet.
He said: “We haven’t unlocked performance.
Change
“In the second session we went through a really dramatic set-up change with Lewis and that has massively backfired.
“We don’t seem to have found that silver bullet yet.”