Hamilton Slams FIA For 'No Accountability' And Stands Up For Susie Wolff
F1Thursday, 21 March 2024 at 16:30
Lewis Hamilton backed Susie Wolff's actions ahead of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, and he also called for more transparency.
In December 2023, FIA launched an investigation against Susie and Toto Wolff based on an anonymous "conflict of interest" claim in the media suggesting that the pair shared confidential information from their respective areas within F1 for mutual benefit.
The investigation was later quickly concluded as all F1 teams jumped to the defense of the F1 Academy Manager with a coordinated response on social media.
Back then, FIA issued a very short statement summarizing that the investigation outraged Susie Wolff because it carried out what happened without explanation or apology.
The 41-year-old Scot said she has received online abuse on her work and family as a result of false claims against her and that she planned to find out "who has instigated this campaign and misled the media."
On Wednesday, the 20th, 2024, Susie Wolff posted a statement on social media stating that she had filed a criminal complaint in the French courts against the FIA.
In her message, she called for transparency and accountability. She said she felt it was important to stand up and "call out improper behavior" to ensure "people are held to account."
The seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who has known Susie Wolff for a very long time, told the media on the day after her statement:
"Firstly, I'm incredibly proud of Susie. I think she's so brave, and she stands for such great values. She's such a leader, and in a world where often people are silent, for her to be standing up sends such a great message."
"I love that she's taken it out of this world, filed it [the complaint] from outside, because there is a real lack of accountability here, within this sport, within the FIA, things that are happening behind closed doors. There is no transparency, there is clearly no accountability, and we need that, I think the fans need that."
Susie Wolff's legal action against the FIA comes amid two more controversies that took place in the meantime: the investigation of Christian Horner and the investigation of FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.
In both of these cases, there has been very little communication about what actually is going on, and multiple drivers and team principals have already previously called for more transparency. Hamilton continued:
"How can you trust the sport and what is happening here, if you don't have that, and so hopefully, this stand that she's taken now will create change and will have a positive impact. Especially for women, it is still a male-dominated sport."
The female employee who complained about the "inappropriate behavior" of the Red Bull Racing team principal was suspended about two weeks ago; again, there was very little communication from the team to the media. The seven-time World Champion added:
"And we live in a time where the message is, if you file a complaint, you will be fired. And that is a terrible narrative to be projecting to the world."
"Especially when we're talking about inclusivity, here in sport, we need to make sure that we're staying true to the core values."
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