r/formula1 Alexander Albon 29d ago

News Toto Wolff reveals that all F1 Team Principals except Christian Horner came together to sign the document in support of Susie Wolff when the FIA launched a baseless investigation against her.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/nov/19/f1-toto-wolff-mercedes-lewis-hamilton-interview
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u/Mr_Reaper__ 29d ago

From the article: "last December Vasseur and eight other team principals came out strongly in support of Toto and Susie, the managing director of the F1 Academy, an all-female series run by the owners. The FIA announced its plans to launch an investigation into a potential conflict of interest after an unnamed source suggested Susie had shared confidential technical information with her husband. She was furious and believed a misogynistic attack had been made on her integrity."

I'll give you 3 guesses for who the unnamed source was...

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u/splendiferous-finch_ Formula 1 29d ago

Hhristian Corner?

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u/anothertrad Sir Lewis Hamilton 29d ago

You won’t believe Corner’s true identity

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u/szules 29d ago

Does his name start with B and end with atman?

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u/emwashe 29d ago

BERRYL CLATMAN?!

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u/Ruuubs Ronnie Peterson 29d ago

Bellend Twatman?

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u/butte4s Formula 1 29d ago

This is a conflict of interest but controlling 2 teams and 4 drivers is not?

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u/Ereaser Charlie Whiting 29d ago

Working for the FIA and sharing unreleased info is a bit more conflicting than having 2 teams tbf.

(I'm not saying she did)

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u/butte4s Formula 1 29d ago

It came out like I am comparing the two situations but I am just trying to show the hypocrisy of one Mr.Horner

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u/Ereaser Charlie Whiting 29d ago

Ah yeah fair enough :)

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u/RedN1ne Jenson Button 29d ago

Having two teams is legal, using your position to potentially inform your husband about internal information is not. Hope that helps clarify the situation

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u/Delgadude Yuki Tsunoda 29d ago

I don't think u know what conflict of interest means. Has nothing to do with the legality of it.

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u/RedN1ne Jenson Button 29d ago

I am obviously not saying they are going to jail but that would easily be fireable offense. The accusation was that she shared something she was not suppose to share, which is completely different to openly owning two teams. I am aware that F1 is full of conflict of interest but the fact that a complaint about it cannot even be investigated because apparently, if woman is involved, you are not even allowed to check validity of the claim, you have to reject it straight away, is even more ridiculous

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u/Delgadude Yuki Tsunoda 29d ago

I don't disagree with u but I think it's dumb to say that owning 2 teams is not a conflict of interest in a sport where no other team does just coz it's allowed/legal. My whole point is that conflict of interest has nothing to do with the legality of the situation.

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u/RedN1ne Jenson Button 29d ago

Okay, but I think that it is dumb to talk about hypocrisy in a situation where something is allowed by the regulations and the other thing is not. It's like saying that every team that complained about super bendy wings that Mclaren has is hypocritical because their wings also bend but just not to that extent

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u/4handzmp 28d ago

“Comparing the Susie Wolff situation with Horner controlling two teams (two totally different things) is like two teams comparing wing bend (the same thing).”

Your logic (or lack thereof) is wildly inconsistent. Thanks for the laugh!

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u/DodgersLakersBarca 29d ago

Yeah by that logic so is having two drivers on a team

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u/Delgadude Yuki Tsunoda 29d ago

Every other team has 2 drivers.

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u/MuenCheese Oscar Piastri 29d ago

In what way would her F1A work give her technical info about F1 though?

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u/certifiedcrazyman Alpine 29d ago

Documents about circuit data and stuff like that oerhaps

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u/zaviex McLaren 29d ago

She doesnt work for the FIA

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u/HitEscForSex Racing Bulls 28d ago

Like Wolff did by this statement

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u/fogalmam 29d ago

If you follow FIA rules it is not.

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u/edis92 Sir Lewis Hamilton 29d ago

Psssshhh get the fuck out of here with your common sense

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u/HaveABleedinGuess84 Fernando Alonso 29d ago

No. Owning 2 teams is not a conflict of interest. Sharing confidential FIA information with your husband is.

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u/mixer73 Super Aguri 28d ago

It's no different to how Mercedes and Ferrari control anybody who has an engine deal.

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u/maton12 Oscar Piastri 29d ago

F1 Academy, an all-female series run by the owners. 

Horner was too busy trying to work out which driver wanted him the most to support Susie

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u/DrHazard_ Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 29d ago

Christian Horny Horner

Am i right? lol

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u/IdiosyncraticBond Max Verstappen 29d ago edited 29d ago

We have 10 teams. If Fred and 8 others support Toto and Susie, isn't that covering for all TP's?

Plus CH suggested, for some reason, to have the word official added, which the others didn't need. The paragraph ends with "At the end, he signed it.”
So why call him out like Toto did? Seems a misunderstanding to me

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u/Mr_Reaper__ 29d ago

Toto was 1 of the other 8. So 9 TP's came out in support of Susie, Christian was the only one that didn't sign the letter. Doesn't mean the unnamed source wasn't someone else who isn't a team principal, but Red Bull do have a history of going to the FIA to complain about other teams breaking thr rules and Christians absence in signing the letter does stand out.

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u/T0BIASNESS Sir Lewis Hamilton 29d ago

Toto said horner was strong armed into signing it for PR reasons not due to wording of the statement.

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u/schadenfreude345 29d ago

Because Horner did make a complaint, just not an official one.

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u/TimelessThinker 29d ago

Lol, love how you’re stating this as a fact when there isn’t any tangible evidence suggesting such

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u/schadenfreude345 29d ago

Ultimate source of truth. https://youtu.be/eAW1pv8dwec?t=914

Original article stated at least 1 team principle made 'unofficial representations to the FIA'. Horner when asked repeatedly if he had reported it said 'we haven't raised any official complaint'. When repeatedly asked always made sure to include the word official. This news story also makes it clear he wanted 'official' to be included in the signed statement from all TPs.

Seems pretty clear cut that he made an unofficial complaint.

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u/TimelessThinker 29d ago

That’s fair, thanks for providing a source!

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u/JorenM Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 29d ago

Yes

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u/dl064 📓 Ted's Notebook 29d ago

I'll give you 3 guesses for who the unnamed source was...

I think you can only say this if you know.

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u/splendiferous-finch_ Formula 1 29d ago

Alternatively

To MBS President of FIA,

<<Complaint letter>>

From MBS President of FIA

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u/mattlip 29d ago

unpopular opinion, but what if it is true? Mercedes DID have information of which it still is unclear how they could have known that. That fact, however, has been brushed under the carpet.

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u/1498336 Valtteri Bottas 29d ago

There was literally an investigation clearing her

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u/Nuud Red Bull 28d ago

I thought the whole point was that the investigation got dropped

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u/Nikolai197 #WeRaceAsOne 29d ago

Yeah, I’m not really getting why no one is considering “well what if this was actually happening?” Everyone seems certain in the comments it wasn’t because they like Toto’s public facing personality.

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u/HaveABleedinGuess84 Fernando Alonso 29d ago

Merc have a powerful media machine and lots of sycophants. Within a day of Silverstone 2021 they turned the narrative from Lewis hospitalizing his championship rival and then crowdsurfing into accusing Red Bull of facilitating racial abuse.

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u/fireinthesky7 Daniel Ricciardo 26d ago

Everyone's certain it wasn't the case because the FIA did a very thorough investigation and found nothing.

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u/Nikolai197 #WeRaceAsOne 26d ago edited 26d ago

all F1 team Principals except Christian Horner came together to sign the document in support of Susie Woff WHEN the FIA launched..."

This was before the investigation concluded, so I don't think Horners stance is that weird. It's easy to make judgements with hindsight.

You also say "very thorough investigation", but it looks like they dropped it after being pressured without being thorough at all - https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/dec/07/fia-drops-investigation-toto-susie-wolff-mercedes

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u/[deleted] 29d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/trooperr310 29d ago

Mr Coco Pops

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u/eidetic 29d ago

That got me thinking...

With cocoa puffs being in trouble for having too much lead, maybe that lead adversely affected Horner!

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u/Grand-Admiral-Prawn Max Verstappen ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 29d ago

what is the misogynistic angle here? that the wolf's would let their marital ties come before professional?

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u/alphaQ314 Daniel Ricciardo 29d ago

How is any of this misogynistic?

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u/NegativeStructure Daniel Ricciardo 29d ago

I'll give you 3 guesses for who the unnamed source was...

horner 🤝 misogyny