Her own worth.
Susie Wolff, F1 Academy Managing Director
Susie Wolff can be described as a pioneer. She is a woman who has always worked with professionalism and dedication to break down the barriers that motorsport places in the way of women and girls pursuing the same dream as their male counterparts. The barriers that she has encountered throughout her career, which she has always tried to make more accessible to all women who want to reach the top. But that barrier, that wall, re-emerged yesterday in the form of public allegations about an investigation that should be private.
Yesterday, Business F1 magazine revealed that the FIA is investigating the Wolffs, Susie and Toto, over an alleged conflict of interest between Susie's position as managing director of the F1 Academy, reporting directly to F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, and her presence at FOM (Formula One Management) meetings where confidential information is discussed, to which Toto Wolff, Mercedes team principal, is alleged to have had access through his wife.
The call for an investigation is perfectly legitimate, but it is curious that in Formula One, which, like all sports, contends with conflicts of interest, this is the first time the issue has been raised just after a woman began to play an active role in the game.
Countries that invest so much money in the sport that they practically could own it, a team principal who employs his son as a core member of the team on a rolling contract, sponsors who invest huge budgets in drivers and teams and who determine business decisions, two teams on the grid owned by the same brand... are all these things not conflicts of interest?
Apparently not for the FIA. No one has ever questioned any of these things, even though they have always been part of the current F1 landscape and some of them still are.
Susie Wolff did not stay silent and responded with a very direct statement where she reaffirms her integrity, professionalism, and dedication to her profession, to the path that she has chosen for her life.
The words of a woman who sees how her work, her years of effort to give visibility to a gender that until now has been almost invisible in the world of motorsport, are being questioned.
She brings up 'misogyny' in her statement because, while it's permissible for other teams and the FIA to inquire and seek clarification, publicly sensationalizing the matter without directly engaging the concerned parties and swiftly assuming guilt based solely on marital status constitutes an entirely different issue.
Susie Wolff is not only Toto Wolff's wife; she has a job and is dedicated body and soul to her chosen profession, however difficult it may sometimes be. It is her professional background that has led her to become director of the F1 Academy, and to take it for granted that a woman would throw away years of work and personal and collective struggle just to benefit her husband's career is a reflection of that misogyny that Susie mentions, angrily.
It is precisely this—the assumption that women prioritize the interests of a man, of a partner, ahead of our personal and professional integrity—that demonstrates the public drama created goes far beyond a conflict of interests.
Once again, the persistent obstacles that exist in the lives of female athletes and sportswomen are revealed. Susie not only acknowledges this reality but also responds to these attacks as she always has: fighting with fearless courage, defending not only her own worth but also that of every woman who has chosen to dedicate her life to her career.
Tell them, Susie.
