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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff says “every comment from the outside of what is going in the team is just simply wrong”, and adds “people that abuse are cowards”.
In recent weeks, a portion of Lewis Hamilton‘s fans have become very loud in their suggestions that Lewis is being treated unfairly by Mercedes.
Some are even saying that Mercedes could be doing something to purposely slow Lewis down. Unfortunately, cases of online abuse aimed at George Russell have also been reported.
Now, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, even anonymous messages were sent to the media claiming Mercedes is purposely sabotaging Lewis.
In Friday’s team principals’ press conference, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the team has involved the police in the case, and when asked about the online abuse, he said:
“So first of all, I’m not reading any comments. I don’t have social media. And I think it’s important to protect oneself by doing so.
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“And I’ve commented about this many times before, there will always be people that have their laptop on the chest in their bedroom and just typing away.
“And if people feel like they’re abusing, want to abuse and hit out and hide behind a made-up Instagram account or anything else, that for me is… Come up, say who you are, and we’ll take the criticism and discuss, but don’t hide.
“And there seems to be lots of irrationality also, because we want to be successful. We want to be successful with the most iconic driver the sport has ever had.
“The privilege that we had to work with Lewis as an incredible driver, a great personality, that goes through the ups and downs like any other like any other sports person.
“I totally respect the reasons for him going to Ferrari. There is no grudge. There is no bad feeling. The interaction we have in the team is positive.
“And so every comment from the outside of what is going in the team is just simply wrong.
“But there’s always a limit. I mean, if emails are being sent or telephone numbers are being used for these messages, then for me, the joking stops. And we will pursue it, whether that is successful or not.
“But there are limits to certain things. And obviously, online abuse is not only something that happens to us or to the team or to the people, it happens badly to Lewis, badly to Lewis, and to George.
“And we’ve seen Max speaking out about it and Kelly [Piquet, his girlfriend]. People that abuse are cowards, because they hide.
“So whatever is going on out there with social media, with all the good things that it provides, and all those people that have been given a platform, that’s just the negatives that come with it.
“I have no feelings to someone that abuses for the reasons I just said before,” Wolff concluded.
