It’s rare to find a dull moment in F1.
As the grid lined up in Barcelona for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, reports emerged on Friday that a mass email had been sent to a number of F1 journalists by an insider claiming to have information that Mercedes was blocking Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season. The email was sent after the Canadian Grand Prix, where George Russell finished third and Hamilton fourth.
In the interest of full disclosure, SB Nation We did not receive this email and therefore cannot independently verify its contents. According to this report: ReutersEmail “[h]Heading the article as a “potential death warrant for Lewis”, the paper accused Mercedes of “systematically sabotaging” Hamilton, his car, his tyres, race strategy and his mental state.
Lectures FIA Press Conference FridayThe Mercedes team boss suggested he had been given permission to “go all in”, and that is exactly what he did.
“Well, not from a member of the team. It’s upsetting when you get a bunch of emails like this, especially when someone’s talking about death and all that stuff.” Wolff began.“So I have instructed them to go all out on this matter.
“We have asked the police to investigate. They are looking at IP addresses and mobile phones. This online abuse must stop. You cannot hide behind your phone or computer and abuse teams and drivers like this,” Wolff continued. “I don’t know what the conspiracy theorists and lunatics are thinking. Lewis was part of the team for 12 years. We have a friendship. We trust each other. We want to win this case. We want to end it on a good note. We want to celebrate this relationship.”
Wolff made it clear that even if he didn’t trust him on that front, the team still wanted to win the constructors’ championship and to do so needed both Hamilton and George Russell to perform well.
“If you don’t believe all of that, believe me we want to win the Constructors’ World Championship, and part of the Constructors’ World Championship is to win both cars. So to all the crazy people out there… consult a psychiatrist.”
The Mercedes boss was also backed by long-time friend and Hamilton’s successor as team principal Frederic Vasseur at the FIA press conference, with the Ferrari team boss saying such claims were “absurd” given Mercedes’ title challenge.
“Well, on this matter, leaving aside the relationship with Toto, can you imagine a company with 1,500 employees working day and night to upgrade, and as if that wasn’t enough for Toto, potentially destroying or damaging one of the cars by upgrading every race? This is totally irrational and no one in the paddock could do something like this,” Vasseur asserted. “We are fighting for the championship, we are trying to get one more point than the other team every weekend. Can you imagine saying: ‘Okay, Lewis, we don’t want to score any more points with him’? For me it is totally irrational and totally beyond the scope of someone doing my job.”
Wolff also addressed recent comments, mostly negative, on social media regarding the relationship between the two Mercedes drivers.
“First of all, I don’t read the comments. I’m not on social media. I think it’s important to protect yourself by doing that. I’ve commented on this many times before, but there’s always going to be someone who has a laptop on a chest of drawers in their bedroom and they’re just typing away,” Wolf began. “And if people feel they’re being abusive and they want to abuse and attack and hide behind a fictitious Instagram account or something, that for me is… come forward and say who you are, and I’ll accept the criticism and I’ll debate it, but don’t hide.”
“And I think there’s a lot of irrationality too, because we want to be successful. We want to be successful with the most iconic driver in the history of the sport. It was an honour for us to work with Lewis. He’s a great driver, a great person and like any sportsperson he’s had his ups and downs. I totally respect why he went to Ferrari. There’s no grudges. There’s no bad feelings.”
A Mercedes boss then explained how the issue was being handled internally.
“Interactions within the team are positive, so any external comment on what’s going on within the team is simply wrong. But there’s always a limit. I mean, once emails are sent or my phone number is used for these messages, for me the joke is over,” Wolff explained. “And we will pursue it whether it’s successful or not. But there’s a limit to certain things. And obviously online abuse isn’t just something that happens to us, to the team, to people. Terrible things are happening to Lewis. Terrible things are happening to Lewis and George.
“So people should do that, and Max [Verstappen] Speak out about it, Kelly [Piquet, Verstappen’s partner]”Abusers are cowards because they hide. So no matter what happens on social media, all the good it gives and those who are given a platform, there’s all the negative that comes with it. For the reasons I said, I have no feelings towards abusers.”
Hamilton and Russell addressed some of the social media comments. The seven-time champion declared Thursday that the team needs “support, not negativity” from fans. Verstappen and his partner Piquet They have also slammed rumours about their relationship on social media in recent weeks, with the F1 driver calling the “falsehoods” on social media “insane and ridiculous”.
Back at Mercedes, the team addressed some of the social media rumors during Thursday’s media session at the Spanish Grand Prix. “I think they know if you look over the years we’ve always been a strong team. We’ve always worked hard together,” Hamilton said during the team’s Thursday media session in Barcelona. “I think what we need is support, not negativity. I actually didn’t know that George was experiencing any negative reactions.”
“I can’t blame George because he gives his best every weekend and contributes to the team,” Hamilton continued. “Obviously there are always things we can do better within the team and that comes through conversations and communication and we’re always working on that. But we’re all in the same boat, we’re all working hard together. We want to finish on our best and I feel that’s because of the long-term relationships that we’ve built.”
