‘The abuse is not correct’: Max Verstappen stands up for Red Bull chief strategist Hannah Schmitz amid vitriolic attacks on social media
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Max Verstappen and Hannah Schmitz
In Zandvoort, Max Verstappen took home his 10th victory of the season and his second victory in a row in his home Grand Prix. The championship is all but done, and if normality ensues, the Dutchman will have another trophy in his cabinet to compliment the one from last year.
The victory itself, however, was rather controversial, especially with some Mercedes fans. They believed that Yuki Tsunoda had stopped on the side of the track on purpose, which brought out a VSC that helped Red Bull and worked against Mercedes’ strategy. Hannah Schmitz is the chief strategist for Red Bull, and she has often been the star of the show this season.
She is certainly amazing at her job, but some fans believed her responsible for Mercedes’ (or rather, Lewis Hamilton’s) disappointment in Zandvoort, citing a conspiracy between Red Bull and the sister team AlphaTauri, and as such, she has been subject to much abuse on social media. Max Verstappen has come out to defend his colleague.
Max Verstappen calls out social media abuse towards Hannah Schmitz
It seems that all the praise directed towards Hannah Schmitz is part of the reason why she has been so under fire: She is obviously not the only strategist, and any abuse regardless of her position at Red Bull is unacceptable. Verstappen believes the same, and has called out the mindless abuse:
As per GPFans, Verstappen said: “It [the abuse] is not correct, and I’m glad we’ve put that statement out to address things, and that’s how it should be. But at the end of the day, these things shouldn’t even happen because, first of all, to think about these things is already ridiculous. Why would you even think that is possible in this sport? That individuals get hated on is beyond me how you can do it.”
Verstappen has however not spoken directly to Schmitz regarding the abuse: “Of course, it’s terrible but Hannah is a very strong person and she knows what she’s doing. We don’t need to speak one-on-one for that. I don’t think she’s here this weekend but, for sure, when I see her maybe I’ll mention it.”
Verstappen feels that social media companies need to do more to address trolls. However, the Dutchman says that what people talk about on social media does not affect the team, but regardless, he believes that it just should not happen.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)