Mercedes boss Toto Wolff hit out against online abuse on Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix after an anonymous email sent to members of the F1 paddock claimed Lewis Hamilton was being “sabotaged” by the team.
The email, titled “a potential death warrant for Lewis” and claiming to be from a Mercedes employee, accused Wolff of being “vindictive” and stated that seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton was being “excluded” as a result of his 2025 move to Ferrari.
The letter was sent a day after the Canadian Grand Prix a fortnight ago, when Hamilton missed out on a podium in the closing laps as his team-mate of two-and-a-half years George Russell overtook him on the quicker medium tyres, while Hamilton was left powerless to defend on the hard compound rubber.
Mercedes have now confirmed they have reported the matter to the police and are also mounting their own investigation to find the source of the email, including attempting to find the IP address.
For Wolff, who despite his disappointment about Hamilton’s 2025 transfer publicly bared no grudge and insists the pair have a “friendship”, enough is quite clearly enough.
“We know this is not coming from an employee of our team and we receive an incredible number of these types of emails,” said Wolff, in a strong response when questioned in Friday’s team principals’ press conference at the Barcelona circuit.
“That is disturbing, especially when someone talks about death and things like that in such an email. That is why I said that we must investigate this fully and call the police.”
An FIA-led report, published in February in cohesion with other sporting federations such as FIFA and World Athletics, revealed results that stated that 75% of respondents believe athletes regularly face threats against themselves or their families online.
United Against Online Abuse also revealed that 90% of respondents believe social media abuse will result in sportsmen quitting their chosen sport.
“Online behaviour like this must stop,” Wolff added on Friday. “People sitting behind their phones or computers cannot denigrate teams or drivers in this way. I don’t know what kind of idiots are out there. Lewis has been part of this team for 12 years, we are friends and trust each other.
“I would like to say to all those crazy people out there: go to a shrink.”
The email was sent to the same group of people who received the leaked texts allegedly between Christian Horner and the female complaint amid the Red Bull soap-opera at the start of the season in Bahrain.
It read in full: “Some of us in the team are unhappy about the systematic sabotaging of Lewis, his car, his tyre strategy, his race strategy, his mental health, and the unprofessional way Toto, lover boy George and others are mistreating him.
‘Toto is vindictive and is like a scorned wife no longer speaking with Lewis but is doing everything possible to get back at him. Lewis is excluded and some underhanded (sic) things are going on that people need to be aware of.
“Ask the questions and the truth will out. It is all in the data and is recorded. With the exception of Bono (Peter Bonnington, Hamilton’s race engineer) and those of us who love Lewis, others are on a dangerous course that could ultimately be life threatening to Lewis, other drivers, even the public. A cold tyre strategy is a death warrant.
“Toto, George beware and be correct. Not all of us are prepared to be a part of your unfair unprofessional destruction of Lewis for your own self-gratification.”
As for Hamilton, who called for “support, not negativity” when asked about the subject on Thursday, he did his talking on the track as he went fastest in the second practice session on Friday.
Hamilton, a six-time winner in Barcelona, clocked a time 0.022 seconds quicker than the man he replaces at Ferrari next year, Carlos Sainz in second, with Lando Norris (quickest in first practice) third in the day’s second session.
Max Verstappen was dissatisfied with his Red Bull car, complaining of understeer, and was only fifth-fastest while Hamilton’s team-mate Russell was eighth on the timesheet.
At a circuit used for testing in the past, it is thought this weekend will be telling in informing fans whether the chasing pack can really challenge Max Verstappen and Red Bull for the title this season. And two weeks after the wet-dry chaos in Montreal, rain is also on the forecast for Sunday afternoon’s grand prix.
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