McLaren CEO Zak Brown has reiterated his call for more “transparency” amid developments that have included the FIA having a criminal complaint filed against it.
The FIA Ethics Committee has cleared President Mohammed Ben Sulayem of wrongdoing following allegations from a whistleblower, who claimed he tried to interfere with overturning a time drop given to Fernando Alonso in last season’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix while also attempting to prevent the Las Vegas Strip Circuit being homologated.
Meanwhile, Susie Wolff has confirmed that she has launched legal action against the FIA in a French court in response to its probe into an alleged conflict of interest. The investigation last December into F1 Academy’s Managing Director along with her husband and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff met a staunch response and was ended within 48 hours.
But despite those accusations being dropped, Susie Wolff has chosen to take legal measures as she strives to ensure those who initiated the claims are held accountable.
That has come amid the backdrop that the female complainant who made allegations against Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner issued a complaint to the FIA.
Brown, who has been consistent in his desire for a transparent outcome to the Horner saga, has suggested that the relevant cases could have been dealt with more openly.
“All the items that have come to light in recent times are very serious situations,” Brown said. “We’re living in 2024, not 1984, which means total transparency.
“The three situations are different, but all very serious. We need to make sure that things are done in a transparent, truly independent manner. I think everyone should welcome transparency.”
However, Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur insisted the teams should retain faith in the sport’s governing body because “I don’t think we have another option than to be confident.
“We don’t know who is the whistleblower; we don’t know what was the goal of the whistleblower,” he continued.
“Don’t ask us to have an opinion at the end. We have to be confident with the system.”
Elsewhere, RB CEO Peter Bayer has warned against making such matters public as it could discourage whistleblowers from wanting to come forward again with claims.
“[The FIA] are capable because there’s elected people who have roles, there’s an independent ethics committee,” he explained.
“Since when I was there, we’ve established the compliance officer, whistleblowing hotlines.
“One thing that we see is the sport has grown massively in a very short amount of time. A lot of people are asking for transparency.
“I guess we will have to try and understand where we can have transparency because when it’s about individual topics or complaints coming through a whistleblowing hotline, you have to make sure there is absolute guarantee and protection of the people doing the whistleblowing.
“When it’s about employment contracts, those are anywhere on the planet not meant to be shared with anyone. So, it’s difficult.
“But as a sport, we have to learn and grow through these processes and hopefully can come back and focus on racing…
“We have to have confidence in the organisation. It’s the same when we have a stewards’ decision or other. Sometimes we might not like the decisions but ultimately, we have to be happy with the process.”
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