Toto Wolff accused of leaking/receiving confidential information

[hollus]

First of all good call not putting it in the Mercedes thread. Isn't there is any kind of f1 news thread?

Fully agreed on the first half, "General chat" is a very fine place to put it regarding the second half.

[Sieper]

Thank you for being so active guiding this in the right direction Hollus. Really appreciated and hope you will do that consistently in the future.

[SiLo]

even if Wolff has been told this info, why would you punish him? He's not leaking the info, someone at the FIA/FOM is. Go after them.

This is basically just going to turn into free clicks for the media, an easy witch hunt for Merc haters, and a total mess to deal with for mods on forums like this.

[TFSA]

This is basically just going to turn into free clicks for the media, an easy witch hunt for Merc haters, and a total mess to deal with for mods on forums like this.

You're overstating things. Hollus had to make a post encouraging people to think for 2 seconds. It's not like he's had to start warning or banning people left and right (at least it doesn't appear that way), or that this thread has spiraled into a 10 page flame war.

Discussing stuff like this, including the underlying issues of conflicts of interest, is what forums like these are for.

Getting back to the discussion:

even if Wolff has been told this info, why would you punish him? He's not leaking the info, someone at the FIA/FOM is. Go after them.

One does not rule out the other. If you come into possession of proprietary information through no obvious fault of your own, you can still be liable if you decide to use that information for your own benefit (as in, acting in bad faith).

But ultimately, this is a problem for the FIA to solve. They are the primary responsible party for ensuring the integrity of the F1 competition.

Assuming the article is true for a second, I don't believe there's any cause to punish Mercedes here and now. There may, however, be cause for warnings being issued, meaning that the FIA issues a statement that says they may take steps further down the line, if any similar situations should arise, where it may seem that a team has come into possession of secret information ahead of time - especially if it appears that the team has used that information in bad faith.

In addition, it may also be a cause for the FIA to investigate if they have any potential conflicts of interests in the way they are structured and with the people they have employed.

[Wouter]

This is basically just going to turn into free clicks for the media, an easy witch hunt for Merc haters,
and a total mess to deal with for mods on forums like this.

.
Since this thread was opened Dec 02 05:16 there have only been 18 replies. It seems like you're massively overreacting.
These type of reaction actually provokes unnecessary reactions. This topic is not new, because the whole story was already known
in 2022 and was discussed a lot at the time. No new facts now, so there will be few new reactions now.

[SiLo]

This is basically just going to turn into free clicks for the media, an easy witch hunt for Merc haters,
and a total mess to deal with for mods on forums like this.

.
Since this thread was opened Dec 02 05:16 there have only been 18 replies. It seems like you're massively overreacting.
These type of reaction actually provokes unnecessary reactions. This topic is not new, because the whole story was already known
in 2022 and was discussed a lot at the time. No new facts now, so there will be few new reactions now.

I stand by what I said, it just hasn't happened. Yet. More people responding might see more people viewing and in turn, responding. In terms of overreaction, maybe I exaggerated a bit, but to say "massively overreacting" is a bit of a reach.

It's certainly something I am happy to be proven wrong on, but the mods have been fairly proactive here that might have put a stop to anything silly happening.

[Incognito]

I'm shocked that certain people are leaping onto a clearly unreliable source and then propagating it as essentially fact just because it fits their particular narrative (which suggests that their narrative lacks viability in reality).

Mind you, it is in line with the FIA's approach to Mercedes. You just need to think back to 2021 and one of the biggest fixes in sporting history to make sure that Mercedes won the WDC...

Oh.

[TFSA]

The FIA has officially opened an investigation now.

I encourage everyone to keep the discussion civil and unbiased (if possible). Please stick to arguing what we know, and keep the wild speculation in check.

[chrisc90]

So much for a fabricated story.

Must be something to the story if the FIA have some out and said they are looking into it.

Always thought it was suspect.

Wonder what happens if they are found to have been leaking information or whatnot. Surely it should be a fairly serious punishment?

[denyall]

The FIA has officially opened an investigation now.

I encourage everyone to keep the discussion civil and unbiased (if possible). Please stick to arguing what we know, and keep the wild speculation in check.

Interestingly the autosport article cites the same "story" that we've been discussing. Still no comment on record from any of the accusers. I wonder which TP are upset enough to complain but not to go on record. Certainly RB and Ferrari wouldn't lurk in the shadows.

I still think it's baseless; no accuser and the logic of the accusation doesn't make sense to me. Toto probably has 100 sources that are better placed and more relevant to Merc than what Susie does. Same goes for F1, I'm sure they have there own sources inside the teams and back channels to TP secret meetings. In essence, there are much smarter/sneaker, less politically toxic, and definitely less obvious ways of achieving information sharing.

In any case, I'm glad the FIA is looking at it, not like they have a choice really, twitter might burn the building down if they didn't acknowledge it

[Soalar]

Really curious to see how this plays out.

When they hired Susie it was simply a question of time. You cannot be in a relationship and not talk about your job. Unfortunately Toto then selfsnitched infront of the other team principles.

If this all turns out to be true, I think he will get the Flavio treatment.

[denyall]

Really curious to see how this plays out.

When they hired Susie it was simply a question of time. You cannot be in a relationship and not talk about your job. Unfortunately Toto then selfsnitched infront of the other team principles.

If this all turns out to be true, I think he will get the Flavio treatment.

You think Toto will be banned for life?

I doubt very much that Susie would have even been hired without a conflict of interest disclosure and agreement being on file. If, and it's a big IF, she violated the terms of her employment the most that would happen is she would be fired..

I see no legal or sporting reason why it would be justified to ban Toto for life for sharing info with the FIA or FOM about "secret" meetings. If he wants to blow it and ruin trust that's his own fault but it's certainly not worth if a penalty/punishment.

[Sieper]

Well, we are not the judge here. But it is quite funny to read the jumping to conclusion and preemptive bashing already unleashed.

[organic]

Investigating into the conflict of interest due to pressure which has come as a result of the article by Business F1 doesn't preclude the possibility that the article was fake, and that therefore the investigation will turn up nothing.

That the FIA investigates is not evidence that there have been infractions nor does it prove the article was true: they can be investigating to clear the Wolffs of wrongdoing publicly, for instance.

That said, I'm glad it's being addressed formally as I was hoping this didn't turn into one of those things that RB fans will go on about for years when it was all based on rubbish anyway.

[Sieper]

That is the only acceptable outcome without further damage to F1. So highly likely in my opinion.