Nine Formula 1 teams issued an identical statement on Wednesday denying that they had complained to the International Automobile Federation about a possible conflict of interest between Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and his wife, who works within the management of the premier motorsport series.
The series of statements followed Red Bull team principal Christian Horner’s public outing on Sky Sports on Wednesday in which he denied that the team, the three-time reigning series champions, was the origin of the request for an investigation to be launched.
“We are on-track rivals, but we have not made any formal complaints against Susie, Toto or Mercedes to the FIA,” said Horner, who added that Red Bull worked closely with Susie Wolff in her role as race director. F1 Academy, which is reserved for female drivers.
“Like everyone else, we were surprised by the (FIA) statement, but Red Bull is obviously not the source of this complaint,” Horner said.
The other nine teams in the grid attempted to distance themselves from the request for an investigation into the Wolff family, simultaneously issuing virtually identical statements.
On Tuesday, the FIA said it was investigating the Wolff family following allegations of a conflict of interest, as Toto and Susie Wolff may have shared confidential information. The FIA admitted that it was “aware of the rumors circulating in the media” on this subject, and clarified that its compliance department was “investigating this”.
