Wolff thinks he knows where leak at FIA comes from: 'It doesn't matter'
Several Formula 1 teams seemed to have information about Red Bull Racing and Aston Martin's budget cap overrun even before the teams themselves knew about the breach. However, Toto Wolff does not think it is important to pursue the matter further. According to the team boss, Red Bull is trying to divert attention from the budget cap breach with this.
Now that Red Bull Racing's punishment has finally been announced by the FIA, the F1 world can focus on the next question: How could information about Red Bull's break leak, when the team itself had not yet been informed by the FIA?
Indeed, several rumours were already circulating about Red Bull in Singapore. Several team bosses also seemed to know more about the situation. Toto Wolff, for instance, was quick to give his opinion on a possible offence. According to Helmut Marko, there is a leak at the FIA, but the Mercedes team boss does not think that is relevant in this situation.
Wolff doesn't care about leak at FIA
"The leak did not come from the FIA, but from ten finance directors who sit together all year to find out who did what," Wolff says on Sky Germany. "An offence has been committed. It really doesn't matter how it came about. A foul is a foul. Who chatted about it? I think it was the finance directors."
Red Bull is serious about the possibility of a leak at the FIA. The team has been the victim of nasty rumours for weeks. Even children of team members have been bullied in the playground because of the whole situation. "It is also a total sideshow. It is an attempt by Red Bull to divert attention," Wolff stressed.
Toto blaming Red Bull in advance of Red Bull hearing about it from the FIA, then Red Bull pointing to Toto for having access to insider information, then Toto saying that there's nothing to see here. I think it would be kinda important to know how this information got out, and why exactly did it end up in Toto's lap? Wouldn't Red Bull have been the first to know about this? Since it actually concerns them. So, it seems likely to be a leak in favor of other teams over Red Bull, and if so, why, and who? I was of the assumption that the budget data was available to all teams, as a way to compare to each other and check each other, but now it sounds like only a select few people had access to it. And if the "10 finance directors" are the constructor's finance directors, then they would have had insight into other teams' finances, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It's not quite fair to say that this is a side-show, because Toto is the one that got this show started weeks in advance. The FIA would have ruled on the budget cap anyway, there was no need for a team director to be announcing it prematurely. And denying that the leak needs investigating is just adding to the sensation, as it's just an obvious way to deflect blame on starting this side-show. I'm not saying that Horner wouldn't have done something similar if the roles were reversed, sadly the drama and sensation are part of the sport. Either way it just doesn't really come off well if you often blame the FIA for being corrupt, but when actual corruption occurs but in favor of your team (not sure how exactly, as the penalty didn't really change much about the situation), then suddenly all is good? It's just typical.
Divergent is blinded by his own bu## s##t and red bulls obviously an orange lover. Can't expect anything less from them lot
Of course Tonto wants it sidelined, he has a direct line into the FIA and he wants that forgotten.
Well it cant be side line with it the fia need to deal with it and toto merc and lewis need to be punished with it big time
F1 is a reality TV drama, contrived to look like sport to suck billions from folks who think it's real. The FIA is a go-kart rules commission that is way over its head against ruthless teams spending astronomical amounts of cash to take advantage of the fact that they are incapable of control. F1 was transformed from actual sport to entertainment when Bernie took it over. It now makes billions by looking like a sport founded on imagery of a history no longer relevant. Now, the teams are stakeholders, the FIA is run by investors, and F1 is owned outright by an entertainment organization. They killed the sport, the corpse is now starting to stink. The budget cap is an attempt to make it a zombie, to keep the cashflow going for as long as possible by enhancing the entertainment through evolution into another spec racer spectacle. Bravo to RedBull for pushing the envelope and exposing the farce. Boo to the conformists who are aiding and abetting the demise of what little sport remains in F1, by replacing aggressive competitiveness with whining political antics, of which Wolf is lead den mommy.
Time for toto to be face the music with the mole and be punished with it
It will matter when your classified technical documents leak out because of the FIA
Of course it is relevant to know where the leak is. Toto doesn’t want it to be relevant or investigated as he is afraid the truth will come out and he will loose his source.
Toto , the most honest and fair play TP ever. He and his team speak only on track. Lol lol
Oh Toto!! How could you think this would not come back and bite you in the butt!! The problem Toto has now is he will end up coming off worse than RB.
Shaila Ann Rao is the source of the leak and that is obvious. From Toto Wolffs bed fellow to a senior figure in FIA. Ben Sulayem is a clown but if he doesent fire Shaila Ann Rao immediately he will face the consequences in his own re election thats for sure.
Ben Sulayem is secure, still guest in one of Totos bedrooms????
Toto leaking about the leak was the first mistake. Confirming the leak and now actually pointing fingers at individuals the second. So imo he's taking a fair amount of riks here, I'm not sure if any other team boss is going to admit having actual info before they should have. In the real world this man would be screwed, I'm not sure what will happen in F1 though. And of course an investigation is needed, it's long overdue as a matter of fact.
Well said. Liberty Media and Ben Sulaiman need to have a butcher's both externally and internally and get this sorted. If they don't then they, by default, are condoning the behavior.
Cheers ibohunt. Imo Mo BS isn't going to do anything voluntarily, so much is sure. Neither is anyone at the FOM, if anything only enough external pressure is going to get things moving, I have no clue where Liberty Media stands on this, but I'm sure they won't be amused, it's bad for business. Maybe I'm being cynical, maybe it's because this is standard modus operandi for the FIA (& FOM), in any case I don't have high hopes of any significant improvement in the near future. That doesn't mean this (Canadian bars, #44-safe TD, leaked info on BC, the list goes on) shouldn't be thoroughly investigated obviously, it's insane even for F1 standards.
"GreatestLoserOfAllTime +227729-10-2022 15:17 ...it's insane even for F1 standards." Just when you thought standards can get no lower eh? Having followed this mess since the 70's I've seen nothing but corrupt players. It won't be until the owners decide its a debacle that things will change. That would only happen if they were not making money hand over fist. Until then I fully expect the management to remain half-cut all the time.
My grandmoter leak the info sound more convincing ,toto. Teams spending should be P&C and only insider in FIA knew about it . Toto knew his mole is in trouble hence the diversion
Of course he thinks it doesn't matter. He personally used that information to create a narrative in which everything was blown completely out of proportion and left to the imagination of those who wish to think the worst of Red Bull... before the team itself was even made aware of the situation and had any chance to react. Without that leak he wouldn't have had the chance to do any of that. Normally it wouldn't matter much perhaps, but he and others made it matter.
Her name is Shaila Ann Rao, and it does matter. The leak knew about how the FIA would rule on the issues in RB budget submission. The team finance directors don't decide this, and therefore don't have this information.
Toto & Lewis are guilty parties as well. They leaked and declared RB guilty prior to the verdict, which is a shameful act as well. Both of them are a disgrace to F1. Bunch of Whiners!!
Lewis? Really? Bret, come on man. He never entertained the conversation. Stop hating on the kid.
"The leak did not come from the FIA, but from ten finance directors who sit together all year to find out who did what", Ok toto, we believe you (not really but let's play the game). By the way, who are the ten finance directors so that we may ask them why they leak, what i suspect, is confidential information.
I'm assuming Toto means the 10 finance directors from the 10 teams. Toto forgot that logically they cannot possibly know how the FIA would rule. And yet the leaker knew => the leak is within the FIA.
If you go down the list of people who don't like Red Bull, it would be way too long. As a result, we may never know. But, it appears the leaker did a patriotic duty to Formula 1. Might have been someone from Red Bull itself. Maybe that racist guy who was fired from RB team last year?
I've always thought it was a disgruntled ex RB employee being sacked through the cost cap sackings.
RBR themselves don't know anything about it and u think someone who is not even associated with sport can leak highly confidential reports. Toto has been caught red handed now and wants to just make people forget about it by blaming it on RBR .RBR should sue FIA and toto for leaking confidential reports.
Redbull have done a huge favour to FIA and many F1 teams by not dragging them to the courts over the budget cap issue and defamation. They certainly had the case.
No man, Toto wasn't the wistle blower. You mustn't only read the headlines bud. Don't blame the victim, blame the crime. Are you upset that someone tattled on them? For real? Are you a politician perhaps?
For real…the timing wasn’t orchestrated you think? Ever read a book on F1? Then you would know it’s all politics. Having that said, there are to separate things going on. One is (was) a cost cap breach. Done and dusted. Two is a potential leak within the FIA. This is not a whistleblowing thing…as the investigation was already ongoing. This is about detailed information getting out before the verdict was there…and then the F1 politicians behaving as judge, jury and executioners knowingly setting the public opinion. If you can slow the competition down, take that chance. It doesn’t have to be sportsmanlike anymore at all, does it. If you want to tell the complete story, then do. But don’t act like one team is holier than the other. It all just one snake pit.
You trust the FIA with too much. This would've been another fuelgate saga.
Merc and McLaren are on top of the list. Merc, we all know the reasons. McLaren, due to Honda I guess. They are just jealous of what Redbull have achieved with Honda where they miserably failed.
If its the finance directors.. how come Toto knows about it even before RB does. Obviously he doesn't want to pursue that matter further.
Sure divergent, Just like you believe 100% that the overspend was spent on biscuits, coffee and sick leave ??? BS
1 million was spent on the heart operation of the employee or did you not read the report. There is nothing to joke about the health of other human being.
I'm not joking about the guy/gals health, I'm stating that RB have spent the money on the car and their head chef/accountant has cooked their books.
"further the Fia gave there ok, and than change the rules." I take it you're talking about the reg change in June/July? Anyway that happened to ALL the other teams yet they all were STILL in budget. Why weren't RB?
Yes I do it says it right there, supremus.maximus ?? Sounds like some ancient greek god ?
Do you know who you are talking to? Get your head checked!!!
Hahaha that old chestnut. That ignore button seems to be working fine doesn't it bret? ?
They have to use a FIA selected accountancy firm from one of the top 5 world wide accountancy list. You are full of crap as usual. They dont have their own accountant cooking any books. Shows how much you really know about the whole procedure. Just spouting off because lou lou and toto are getting beat proper this year.
So you're trying to tell me RB haven't got an accountant in their billion dollar company to go over and check their books submission before they've handed them over to the FIA ??
the team use all the same accounting firm, so where is the mistake, not taking a tax reduction, your hate towards Red bull is makyou say thing that are not complete true.
@Watty83 +714429-10-2022 14:29 if you read the pdf where all the accusations and sanctions Red Bull agreed are written in, you would see it says nothing about what you claim. Can you post like proof of these claims or do these claims in fact only exist in your mind?
You know you use the same trick. The explanation wasn't that the moneybwas used only on food/catering. But saying that is was all and only used for food makes RB look like a fool because nobody believe that, therefor RB is an evil lying team. But that also change the story into what you want to tell the world.
Not really Frans. I didn't say the accountant made a mistake, he or she Def didn't make a mistake. What I'm saying is RB have spent the money on the car and their head chef (accountant) has diverted money from the car onto sandwiches, coffee and sick leave through their accounting brain.
It's a bit contradictory, your comment. First you say that rbr used the extra money for the car. Then you say that the accountant made a mistake (what the big problem is). What is it?
It's the FIA that states that Red Bull breached the cap. It's the FIA that states that Red Bull didn't cook the books. What's your opinion based upon, exactly?
These are professional accountants we are talking about, not some school teacher where such foolishness which you are talking about might work. FIA accountants must have asked Redbull to submit all the proofs and cross checked everything before preparing their report.
400.000 dollar, that must be 5 seconds per lap or so, further the Fia gave there ok, and than change the rules. changing rules for a team does that ring any bells?
Trying to recoup moral high ground. I like it! ??
I believe that Red Bull didn't want to include the 1 million dollar salary for an employee who didn't work for majority of the time. Not that they paid for surgery
Just like you believe Hamilton can win a race this year ????????
we all know where the info is leaked by, we all know. AND IT MATTERS
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