Wolff criminal complaint exposes toxic F1/FIA relationship 

As a fan of F1 since the '70s, all I see here is a group of rich, powerful people maneuvering for more money and power. Ron Dennis' quote once again applies: "welcome to the piranha club".

The result of all this will be, of course, a 20 second time penalty for Alonso.

A joint investigation by the FIFA and IOC found no corruption. At all

I find it pretty rich of Zak Brown calling for transparency when he's been sued by more drivers than the rest of the grid combined. Why don't we have a little more transparency into the acquisition of Oscar Piastri? Pato O'ward? What about some REAL transparency as to why no Andretti in F1?

I’m so sick of the fia, liberty media & f1 stewards

How many times have we heard the word transparency of late

It’s all just a power grab, they’re all snakes trying to get up the ladder

Do you guys remember Formula One? The sport where cars go vroom and drive in circles for two hours and everyone cheers? That was nice. I wonder if we'll get to do that again someday

I really don’t see how this lady can have this job to begin with since she’s married to someone that’s not allowed to know what she knows, yet marital priveledge would apply in courts. This is a crazy situation with an insane conflict of interest to begin with.

What would be ironic is the Wolff complaint to backfire at her and they finding out that she actually did leak information to her hubby...

Okay then, Mr & Mrs Wolff, for the sake of total transparency please let the public know, for example a) how you knew beforehand of the Red Bull Racing budget overspend? b) how exactly Mercedes had a secondary floor stay prepared for the race in Canada in 2022, when the very late notice of this FIA technical directive meant it was impossible for any other team to react in time (thus Mercedes gaining an unfair advantage)?? Thank you in anticipation.

How is it permissible for Toto and Susie to hold their positions, given they are husband and wife?

I've commented before on these people calling for transparency. If it was them, they'd move heaven & earth to keep it quiet. Investigations are not held openly or announced until a result is found. HR or security related issues must, by privacy law, be done without allowing alleged or inappropriate actions of any kind out into the open. If someone is falsely accused then a "transparent" investigation will still destroy their career. If someone is guilty, then a press release can be issued. Transparency is anything but and only creates a media fueled circus. Which of course, is the whole point of this.

I still don't understand what's with the problem with FIA looking into this conflict of interest back in the days. And for people who still don't understand what conflict of interest means, it is a statement of who you are, rather than what you have done.

Again, Toto knew something he should have had no way of knowing, and them having an extra floor stay ready for Canada 2022, also proves he knew something that you could not have known unless you had insider information.

It’s laughable how obvious this is. I’m sure Susie and Toto never discuss work at the dinner table 🙄

Susie acting so darn insulted over allegations that were not even directed at her, leads me to believe there is some truth to it, but we'll probably never know since the investigation was dropped before completion. This criminal court case she started reeks of trying to send a message.

Transparency of what? Accountability to whom? These are just baseless buzz words. There's way too many people with a spoon trying to dip out of to small pot.

Zack Brown's comment is not counted as he is just a mindless puppet of Wolff.

They never mentioned her. She threw herself under the bus.

F1 is a sport on Sundays, Every other day is a business, and a pretty controversial one

Surely she should be sueing the media outlets that named her, not the FIA's nameless statement...

F1 demanding 'transparency' is the most ironic thing ever. I bet Andretti would like a bit more of that as well from the teams. And the about the Wolf case, that is truly the most obvious conflit of intrest I've ever seen in the sport. It would be weird if that wouldn't be investigated. The fact that all teams denounced the investigation even before it started tells you how they really feel about transparency. It's a classic omerta where the teams when push comes to shove cover each other to not 'loose position' vs the FAI.

What are the Wolff's and Mercedes afraid of? Maybe because when changes were made in the past Mercedes was ready to go the minute the changes were published and the other teams had to develop changes after they got the actual change in writing? The Wolff's and Mercedes do not want anyone investigating this because it could end up opening up some very interesting issues. Time for the FIA to give little Suzy Q the boot due to the massive conflict of interest.

FIA and F1/Teams relationship has always been toxic you just didn't hear about it. This isn't shit compared to the 60's thru the 80's.

Zak crying about transparency when he won’t disclose the terms of Lando’s new contract.

So you go investigated, the investigation was dropped as no wrong doing was found......... The true classy response would have to said. " I trusted in the systems of the independent FIA legal investigation to prove my innocence ' It is now in the best interest of the sport for me to put this behind me and continue working to make F1 and motor sport the best it can be. .... But no she decided to allow her " you hurt my feelings" attitude win

Some how "The Race" will blame Redbull for everones issues.

Fully agree with transpracy, so Toto should reveal who is feading him info the last couple of years. Since he was on top of every new development.

Police investigating th epolice found that the police did nothing wrong. Pfff

I told you she was toxic no one believed me.

To be honest, this is rich people beef. I could care less about it until it starts affecting on track racing.

Just give Ocon his 5 second penalty and move on

Most groups like fia and f1/liberty media, have rules in place not to employ people that are financially or emotionally involved with the other members of the opposite group they are in charge of

If anybody thinks that there was never any sensitive information shared (even if it was not on purpose) between a wife and her husband, is very naive. If there really are some pieces of information that should not be known by a certain party, maybe, just maybe don't put people that are in a very close relationship together in leading postions at opposite parties. Just saying.....

If they are so worried about info from FOM being passed to any team..... maybe don't hire a married couple

Complaints about Suzie Wolff are not exactly a surprise.

Anyone else sick of more drama off the track than on?

The criminal complaint is a nothingburger. They didn't mention her. Dismissed w/ prejudice, or whatever France's equivolent is.

Suzie's middle name is nepotism though, lets be honest. At least the off track drama gives us something to enjoy rather than on track snoozefest.

f1 would be better without the Wolffs. cant stand either one of them.

Opps, sounds like this put an end or made it harder for Suzy Wolff to feed her husband Toto Wolff privileged information allowing a performance advantage for Mercedes. Anyone who thinks Suzy was not slipping Toto information I have a bridge you can buy. Suzy is a true Wolff in the hen house situation.

The funny thing was, even before the media got involved and said anything, pretty much EVERYBODY guessed it was the Wolff's involved.

it bugs me that the "cut" in The Race's logo isnt at 45 degrees. it doesn't line up with my mouse cursor while im watching videos and this causes me mental anguish 😅

These calls for so called "Transparency" are just hollow, hysterical and hypocritical buzzwords from people who wouldn't say a word if it was them.

Honestly, i dont get where susie want to sue FIA. The FIA statement never mentiones her or toto, that was all from media and team statements. The whole clame comes from the media in itself, so at most she should be suing the media that reported (made up?) this in the first place. What this really looks like is arrogance on susies part: "How dare you question my integrity and suggest me and toto ar having pillow talk on F1 insider topics. this is so misogynistic. I should never be questioned or investigated. I am better than you."

Just saying F1 is the only motorsports I am aware of that has drama outside of the sport with the FIA almost as if the people at the top of F1 are the problem not the regulator

A lot of bs happens in this sport. The recent being the penalty given to Alonso by Herbert who is compromised. Remember this a sport where sabotage & much more has happened in the past

I just want to see more teams and drivers on the grid.

A sport where what happens away from the track is way more interesting than anything that happens on the track

You see, I’m all for more transparency and openness, but I’m just scared all it’ll lead to is you guys taking stuff just enough out of context to make clickbait videos and articles.

Its seriously dodgy and surely a Conflict of Interest when a F1 Team Principal is married to someone is in F1 Management. For Mrs Wolff to start legal action is riddiculous. The French courts should throw it out as it is a situation that does need investigating. But they are French... So no idea what they will do

Liberty media, the FIA and some team principals don't have F1's best interest at heart. Susie Wolff should have never been appointed as managing director of F1A on conflict of interest alone and anyone who thinks information isn't being shared between the Wolffs is unbelievably naive or willfully ignorant.

You mean Brown managed to talk about something other than Red Bull/Racing Bulls relationship?

To think a financial predator like Bernie Ecclestone and a man of dubious moral character like Max Mosley managed to run the F1 / FIA show with such composure, of course, not necessarily to the complete benefit of us fans or F1 teams, but still better than today’s incompetent clowns.

I am sure no information was shared, but come on, this isn't normal, the husband is a shareholder in one of the biggest teams and she is involved in the management of the sport. It just doesn't stick for me. But hey, I know nothing.

People calling for transparency seem to only think an investigation is transparent if it returns the result they wanted. That's not transparency.

Since it was media accounts that publicly ID’d the Wolff’s and not the FIA, why isn’t she alleging a crime against/suing the media? While it’s ‘illegal’, her choice of pursuing criminal action instead of a civil complaint, a unique option in France, is interesting. Her remedies* are limited: “Public defamation is punishable by a fine of €12,000 .”** Well-timed, her complaint just falls within the 3-month period allowed for appeals. * I’m not a lawyer/avocat, or even French ** from “The official website of the French administration”

F1 racing in Middle Eastern countries despite the myriad social issues and human rights violations is a much worse look for the "watching world" than these minor controversies.

People keep mentioning that these "controversies" paint F1 in a bad light? You're kidding right? You know why people tune in to Drive to Survive and watch soap operas and dramas? This just adds to the entertainment. F1 has always been about the rich and powerful manoeuvring themselves and jockeying for position and power. You played into the games by harassing Horner and were useful pawns in the grand scheme. The people who put all this out there and "leak" info to the press/media do so because they know they can USE you and your desire for personal/company prestige. The problem with too much of the F1 commentariat is that they only know how to play the Parrot. They have no in house investigative teams to actually break anything new or to step outside of the internal game. Watching the team boss press conferences recently proves this for anyone who doesn't know already. Just point out any journo who will actually ask a left field probing question, there aren't any because they fear the loss of "privileged" access. I mean when Wolff and Brown kept calling for transparency, who actually bothered to ask either, how does their internal process for such matters differ from Red Bulls and what examples do they have to demonstrate it? Hmm, nobody.

Got to say I have not actually watched a single full race of F1 this season, turned off Bahrain, didn't bother with Saudi and slept through the Aus GP, but I am watching more and more videos about F1 on RU-vid. Keep up the good work guys! The Fia are corrupt, and when you allow corrupt people to get away with one thing, they don't get better they get worse.

Should have let michael schumacher make that new racing brand back in the day. Bring back v10 and refuelling

Its funny how the same people reacted just the opposite in Horners case. Without any proof they throw Horner under the bus while maintaining that Susy Wolf is not guilty. I hope Horner start to to sue every one who difamated him too.

The trouble was to put Stefano Domenecali at the front, the guy made a terrible job at Ferrari, what were they expecting to do with a even bigger challenge that is manage f1

The only toxic thing is corporate types like Toto constantly pulling boardroom politics into the sport. Shut up and fix your car mate.

F1 should create their own federation at this point. Fostering innovation and competition.

F1 is turning into a sad state of affairs…🤦‍♀️

Actually sounds like the wolffs have to much power. The fact she and toto think they are immuned shows there's something going on the FIA didn't find

It's hard to see this case go anywhere. The FIA didn't publicly name Suzie Wolff and even if they had I can't see that making a difference. Really odd.

Why is the most obvious nepotism hire making such a scene, she should be happy she got a job that she didn't deserve at all!

Toto is a billionaire and the mega-rich will sue anything they don’t like. Power games. And on the topic of F1-FIA relationships what happened to the alleged RBR harassment victim calling for the FIA to conduct an investigation on Horner?? Also pls give us a written article about this, I don’t see it at your website. I much prefer a text article I can skim through than having to watch a 10-minute vid.

Just when I thought that the Wolffs wouldn't be able to get any more unbearable 😂

What's Wollf's issue? FIA heard from thr media that there might be an issue. It announced that it would look into it. The investigation revealed no issue, and that was announced. Sounds pretty transparent from the FIA. Should it have kept quiet, or not conducted any investigation? No! There must be more to this story became my impression from this video is that the FIA did a good job with its actions and communication.

This is just to build up drama for a new Netflix F1 drama show

+1 to the editor for the spiderman meme lol

What amuses me is that formula1 teams want transparency from the FIA but are they themselves transparent enough? Are they themselves fair enough? They won't allow new teams and increase "fairness" between each other. Constantly protesting each other's successes. To me it just seems that each of the parties, FIA, liberty media and formula teams are just in it and look after their own interests.

At this point you guys are just milking this stuff. Everyone moved to the events of the Aus GP and you get back to this....

It's entirely possible that someone from another team went "We've got a married couple in charge of two separate things. That'll have to be handled properly" and then incompetent/manipulative people in management went mad with the suggestion

The FIA get a lot of hate (some deserved) but the fia support Andretti’s application. They aren’t all bad

I think zak brown mixes something up if he says its 2024 and not 1984 means total transparency

yeah yeah pure BS lawsuit. They weren't named. This is a fishing expedition. Its all about FOM Argy bargy with FIA. Just because the Wolffs lodged a complaint doesn't mean they have jack shit. People make spurious complaints every day of the week. The reality is they outed themselves. The FIA / Teams and FOM are more interested in politics than racing, because the Teams and FOM want total control to ensure more cash.

Both Susie & Sulayum are BAD for Sport and they both need to go away ASAP and let someone else compitent enough take charge.

The FIA gave Alonso a penalty quicker than they brought out a red flag for George, and The Race done a trial by media piece against Alonso.

It all turned to sh*t after Bernie left…

It’s all so tiring, easy fix, stop all the dei, esg, the touchy feely crap, dump the academy, Netflix and get back to top tier racing.

Im sick of hearing about Karen Wolff

I don't know Zak, it sure feels like 1984.

The iorny of asking for transparency then crying when the FIA is transparent is comical 😂😂😂 yall want secrets or transparency?

This seems so obvious and awful, FIA needs to stop this it's hurting the sport

So same as Ecclestone/Mosley era then?

Just Kick Toto Wolf , Susie Wolf and Horner, Jos Verstapen, Helmut Marco, easy right

When the integrity of the sport and the FIA is constantly under scrutiny these days, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they would publicize what should be a routine review into an 'obvious potential conflict of interest' even just for the sake of reassuring onlookers that they do take any threats to the integrity seriously

Another video from you when everything is a controversy. New favorite word for this channel since 2021.

Good. People need to be held to account.

The contrast between this and F1 unleashed, praise the lord that there are some decent RU-vid channels that actually report F1 news and not just cobble together some old crap add a silly title and an annoying AI voice.

At this point, F1 is losing me as a fan.

let's be real here, every single major sports regulator or sporting league has/had the reputation of being corrupt. FIFA and its regional counterparts, IOC and its regional counterparts, IAAF, FiA, NFL, NASCAR. Golf, Tennis, and there are dozens more.

FIA should just pull the series from FOM and shut it down. Liberty and the rules makers have comletely ruined this series. Huge cars, limiting entries and horrible track selection.

To be honest this matter doesn’t bother me, what bother me the Liberty media, FIA should put more emphasis on increasing the competition and put better rules, not to create drama outside the race to compensate for lack of competition. This circus should come to end

Seems like a ploy (far to common) to get someone ousted). Can we get back to the sport for Peet’s sake