Formula 1 team principals are reportedly up in arms over what they believe to be a conflict of interest that enables Mercedes chief Toto Wolff to access confidential information.
According to the latest issues of the Business F1 Magazine, there is trouble brewing within the paddock.
It states that unnamed team principals have made 'unofficial representations' to the FIA, claiming that Wolff has access to information – via his wife – that the rest of the paddock do not.
Accusations made against Wolff
An anonymous source is quoted as saying: "The information is flowing both ways from us and to Toto but of course we are not getting the benefit of that, he is and they are."
"Imagine that Geri Horner or Raquel Stroll were appointed to head up Formula 2 or got a job at Formula 1 or Liberty," a former team principal is also reported to have said.
"It would be a ridiculous conflict of interest, it simply wouldn't be tolerated."
Suspicion is thought to have first arisen after Wolff had 'advance information' about a topic that came up in a meeting, causing surprise among a handful of team principals.
The publication claim that FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, has had informal conversations with at least one team principal regarding the issue – with others also understood to be concerned.
It is as yet unclear as to whether this is the typical paddock politics that exists within the sport, or if any action is indeed set to be taken.
This of course is not the first time that the sport has seen accusations of information swapping hands or being leaked.