Toto Wolff reveals Mercedes got ‘police’ involved in the Lewis Hamilton SABOTAGE email with death threats 

Mercedes has been accused of favoring George Russel over Lewis Hamilton this season.

Toto Wolff reveals Mercedes got ‘police’ involved in the Lewis Hamilton SABOTAGE email with death threats 

Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton (via IMAGO)

Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff has revealed that the team had to seek police involvement following allegations of sabotaging the performance of Lewis Hamilton‘s car. The Brackley-based team has been accused of prioritizing George Russell over Hamilton this season.

Lewis Hamilton announced earlier this year that he would be leaving Mercedes after 12 glorious seasons, in which, he won six world championships. However, Hamilton has not had the fairytale start to his last season for the German-based team that he supposedly dreamt of, as he finds himself struggling to secure podiums and race wins.

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On the other hand, George Russell has had a fairly better start to the season as compared to Hamilton and has managed to outqualify the latter on eight occasions. Toto Wolff has hence deemed these allegations of baseless standard multiple times, saying that it is inconceivable on Mercedes’ part as a team to sabotage the car of one driver to favor the other.

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When we are getting these kinds of emails, and we're getting tons of them, it is upsetting, particularly when there is somebody talking about death and all these things. On this particular one, I have instructed to go on full force. We have the police inquiring [about] it. We're researching the IP address. We are researching the phone. All of that because online abuse in that way needs to stop.
Toto Wolff spoke at ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix via motorsport

Wolff, therefore, said that such threats and comments need to be stopped because online abuse is a raging concern in today’s world, where people have the freedom to do anything behind the safety of their screens. The Austrian further clarified that Hamilton holds a special place within the heart of the silver arrows and that they would never think of doing such a thing.

Andrew Shovlin shares his thoughts on Mercedes post-practice in Barcelona

Mercedes trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin has shared some positives post the FP1 and FP2 sessions in Barcelona. Mercedes managed to finish P4 and P1 in FP1 and FP2, respectively, highlighting a productive afternoon for the team.

Andrew Shovlin and Mercedes W15 (Via: Imago)
Andrew Shovlin and Mercedes W15 (Via: Imago)
We've had a solid first day on track here in Barcelona. We made a step forward with the updates we brought to Monaco and Montreal, but it's been encouraging to see that the car is working well around a track with plenty of high-speed corners.
Andrew Shovlin said post the practice runs in Barcelona

Mercedes has shown a convincing trend around practice sessions before races this season but has not been up to par with their pace in qualifying. The Silver Arrows have managed to secure only a single pole position in nine races this season, despite topping practice sessions on multiple occasions.

Lewis Hamilton charted P1 in FP2 and will be looking to continue with this pace to attain a higher start for Sunday. George Russell managed to finish P4 as his highest across FP1 and FP2 but will be hoping for more pace having seen the W15 perform convincingly around the high-speed corners of Barcelona.

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