Following reports of a potential conflict of interest, the FIA's Compliance Department is understood to be investigating Toto Wolff and his wife Susie.

While Toto is boss of the Mercedes F1 team earlier this year his wife was appointed managing director of the all-female race series F1 Academy.

Reporting directly to F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali, in her F1 Academy role Susie Wolff is employed directly by F1 which founded and promotes the series.

It is claimed in Business F1, that rival team bosses have voiced their concern that information discussed at their meeting is making its way to FOM bosses courtesy of the Wolffs.

The magazine claims that at a recent meeting Toto Wolff made a comment which included details that his rival bosses are convinced could only have come from FOM.

"The FIA is aware of media speculation centred on the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM personnel," said the FIA tonight in a brief statement.

"The FIA Compliance Department is looking in to the matter."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Defiant, 06/12/2023 21:31

"@Ed, I absolutely agree with your regarding Suzie's vocal inflections and even more so with the suspicion about the W series.

@Tardis40, I groaned when I read that part too."

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2. Posted by Editor, 06/12/2023 17:24

"@ Celtic Tiger,

Re: as innocent as Sylvester with a mouth full of Tweety

AS a keen fan of said puddy cat I salute you."

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3. Posted by Tardis40, 06/12/2023 15:03

"Did she really play the misogynist card?"

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4. Posted by BrightonCorgi, 06/12/2023 14:45

"F1 is such a small circle, nothing can be kept quiet. Informed speculation within that circle is as close to the truth as speculation gets."

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5. Posted by Stitch431, 06/12/2023 10:24

"Good, this should have happened already long ago. The credibility of F1 is at stake here. There have been made too many dubious mistakes, and obvious knowledge of details that should not have been know to Toto at all. Strange is also the fact, that Mercedes could introduce update after update after update and even an entire Chassis overhaul without anyone asking how that can be within the budget cap. They should look into that too if you ask me. They were the once to frame Red Bull with knowledge they normally could not have know if not for the lady lawyer of Toto inside the FIA.

@Celtic Tiger They should also investigate into the role of Domenicali for that matter as Wolff, Domenicali, and Briatore spend their holidays together on the Yacht of Briatore. So much for being unbiased ..."

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6. Posted by Celtic Tiger, 06/12/2023 7:25

"Toto Wolff is what you get when you cook one part Jean-Marie Balestre and one part Flavio Briatore in a lab. I wouldn't put it past the Wolffs, whenever something shady goes down in the background and Toto is involved he always looks, to me, about as innocent as Sylvester with a mouth full of Tweety."

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7. Posted by Editor, 06/12/2023 5:40

"@ Defiant

Judging by the way Susie Wolff's soft Scottish tone has given way to the somewhat harsh, Arni-style timbre of Toto they appear to spend too much time talking.

What I find interesting is the collapse of the non -F1-owned W Series and its almost instant replacement by the F1-owned Academy."

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8. Posted by Defiant, 06/12/2023 1:50

"If FOM truly wanted everything secret, maybe they shouldn't have hired the wife of a team boss. I personally think that Suzie was a great choice for the position but I have to ask, did they really think that the couple would not talk about work? If they truly believed that, I'd say that someone is utterly delusional.

Now, If it turns out Toto has been running his mouth off to anyone with ears about what he's been told in confidence, that's not entirely Suzies fault, it's his. He should learn what confidence is and be grovelling at his wife's feet for forgiveness. This may be a pretty big lesson for Suzie about what can and can't be said.

However, having said all that, it wouldn't surprise me if someone thought it'd be a good idea to stir the pot with accusations. It's not exactly the first time that that has happened in F1."

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9. Posted by kenji, 06/12/2023 1:00

"When under the scope these days it is a prerequisite that one draws on the best card in the pack...in this case let's have a dose of 'misogyny' to help deflect the real issue. As for the making of false accusations...well that's a bit rich."

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10. Posted by Ricardo_sanchez, 05/12/2023 22:42

"Whatever it is that Susie’s (allegedly) been telling Toto, it’s obviously not being passed on to the guys at Brackley."

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11. Posted by Burton, 05/12/2023 20:35

"F1 has always been an old boys club, Wolff and others have long had fingers on too many pies.
I welcome the investigation, of course, but don't know why suddenly this matters more than him having held shares in two teams (took long to divest from Williams), shares in companies which advertise with rivals, being a team principal and owner while also being driver's manager.
Basically the whole FIA/FOM building is not built with compliance in mind."

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FIA investigating the Wolffs over possible conflict of interest

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