Mercedes is considering its legal options after the FIA announced, then swiftly dropped, an investigation which allegedly involved its team principal Toto Wolff.
The FIA announced on Tuesday its Compliance division was looking into whether confidential information had been exchanged between an F1 team principal and a member of Formula One Management. Two days later it issued a further statement saying no investigation was ongoing.
The investigation followed the publication of an unbylined magazine article which made claims regarding Wolff and his wife, F1 Academy managing director Susie Wolff. Other publications repeated several of its allegations.
After the investigation was announced, the pair, along with FOM, swiftly issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. The following day, all nine of Mercedes’ rival teams denied having made complaints to the FIA, as media reports elsewhere claimed some had done.
Following the FIA’s confirmation yesterday that the investigation is no longer proceeding, Toto Wolff said in a statement today Mercedes are considering their legal options.
“We understand that there is significant media interest in the events of this week,” said Wolff. “We are currently in active legal exchange with the FIA. We await full transparency about what took place and why, and have expressly reserved all legal rights.
“Therefore we ask for your understanding that we will not be commenting officially for now, but we will certainly address the matter in due course.”
Shortly before Wolff’s statement was issued, Susie Wolff criticised the FIA’s handling of the investigation and claimed she had been either “the target of a failed attempt to discredit me personally” or “collateral damage in an unsuccessful attack on somebody else.”
Mercedes is due to be represented at the end-of-season FIA Gala today by Lewis Hamilton. It will be his first appearance at the event since 2020, as he did not finish in the championship top three last year, and refused to attend in 2021 amid the fall-out over FIA race director Michael Masi’s mishandling of that year’s final race in which he lost the world championship.
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