Toto Wolff confirms police involved amid Lewis Hamilton ‘sabotage’ accusation

Toto Wolff slammed the “conspiracy theorists and lunatics” accusing Mercedes of sabotaging Lewis Hamilton.

The Austrian confirmed the police had been called after an email was sent to key F1 personnel and journalists accusing the team of “systematically sabotaging” the seven-time champion. The email was sent anonymously but claimed to be from a Mercedes staff member.

Speaking to reporters in Barcelona on Friday, team boss Wolff denied that was the case. He said: “It’s not from a member of the team. When we’re getting these kind of emails – and we’re getting tonnes of them – it’s upsetting, particularly when somebody is talking about death and all these things.

“On this particular one, I have instructed (the team) to go on full force. We have the police enquiring, we’re researching the IP address and the phone, all of that.”

The claims made in the email match those made by a small section of fans on social media, unhappy that Hamilton is behind his team-mate in the championship. George Russell has a 14-point lead over his fellow Briton and has out-qualified him on eight occasions out of nine so far this year.

Those disgruntled fans have suggested that, because Hamilton is leaving for Ferrari at the end of the year, Russell is getting preferential treatment. In response to those who take it further by suggesting foul play, Wolff launched a furious tirade.

He fumed: “Abuse in that way needs to stop. People can’t hide behind their phones or their computers and abuse teams or drivers in a way like this. I don’t know what some of the conspiracy theorists and lunatics think out there, but Lewis was part of the team for 12 years, we have a friendship, we trust each other and we want to end this on a high.

“We want to celebrate the relationship and, if you don’t believe all of that, then you can believe that we want to win the constructors’ world championship and part of that is making both cars win. So, to all of the mad people out there, take a shrink.”

Hamilton said he was unaware of the email when he was quizzed about the matter on Thursday. He also gave his support to Russell and said: “I think it is easy to get emotional, I even commented in the last race for example just how I have faults. I think we need support, not negativity.

“I wasn’t actually aware that George was experiencing any negativity. George has done nothing but his best every single weekend and delivering for the team, so he can’t be faulted at all. We’re all in the same boat, we’re all working hard together and we all want to finish on a high. We owe that to our long-term relationship.”