Frédéric Vasseur returns to the FIA-Wolff affair

The recent backpedaling of the FIA ​​following the announcement that its Compliance Department would look into a possible conflict of interest between a team boss and an FOM employee – in this case Toto wolff, executive director of Mercedes-AMG F1 Team, and Susie Wolff, responsible for the F1 Academy championship reserved for young women – had quickly turned into a farce.

While it was understood that at least one opposing team principal had complained to the FIA, all the united teams responded with an identical statement affirming that they were in no way at the origin of this investigation while reaffirming their support for the F1 Academy and Susie Wolff.

A real snub for the FIA ​​which, two days later, said it was “convinced that FOM’s compliance management system is sufficiently reliable to prevent any unauthorized dissemination of confidential information. »

During a meeting with the media last Friday in Fiorano (Italy), Frédéric Vasseur, head of Team Ferrari did not fail to return to this “incident” from which the FIA ​​has not come out any better.

« This whole story is quite embarrassing for the sport, analyzes Vasseur. It all started with an article, and when you talk about people or individuals you have to be careful what you say.

It would have been appropriate for the FIA ​​to use the 24 hours preceding the first announcement in the same way as those preceding the second.

It would have made sense to use the 24 hours before the first announcement (to verify the information. Ed.), in order to avoid any wrong conclusions. »

For the French manager, despite the ludicrous nature of the slip-up, the only positive point to take away from this strange imbroglio is that the “ stables have shown that they are united. »

« We were able to act together, and that is the conclusion I draw from this affair, he concluded a bit mischievously. It is not so common to see Red Bull support Toto (Wolff. Editor’s note). I think this is the first time that the assembled teams have shown such a face! »

A gathering under the same barrier which also shows that tensions have never been so high between the teams and the governing body!

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