(Montmeló) The boss of the Mercedes Formula 1 team, Toto Wolff, revealed on Friday that the police were investigating after an email was sent “by a madman” claiming that the team was sabotaging Lewis Hamilton’s car , who will leave for Ferrari next season.
“It did not come from a member of the team, this email is shocking, someone is talking about death. We asked the police to look for the IP address (which identifies the sender, Editor’s note). This online abuse must stop, you cannot hide behind your phone and attack drivers like that,” declared the Austrian leader, who appeared very angry on Friday on the sidelines of the Spanish Grand Prix.
“How can you imagine that the 1,500 people working night and day in the team could intentionally cause harm to one of their cars, it’s completely irrational,” Wolff railed at Montmelo.
The email, sent on June 10 and titled “potential death warrant for Lewis”, implied that Lewis Hamilton was being treated worse by Mercedes than his teammate George Russell after the seven-time world champion decided earlier this year to leave the team at the end of 2024 to join Ferrari.
Wolff was accused in the email of being “vindictive” towards his former protégé and doing everything “to get revenge on the driver for deciding to leave Mercedes.”
“We want to perform well with the best driver we’ve ever had. We totally respect the reasons that pushed him to go to Ferrari, there is no resentment,” insisted Toto Wolff.
“Lewis has been part of the team for 12 years, we are friends, we trust each other and we want to end our collaboration on a good note,” added the Mercedes boss, who described those responsible for such online abuse.
