Lewis Hamilton’s farewell season with Mercedes hit a bump when the W15 didn’t turn up as expected performance wise. To add to the drama, the team’s orders and race strategies for both drivers, Hamilton and George Russell have been different, resulting in a big performance gap.
The seven-time world champion is reeling 8-1 to Russell in qualifying sessions this season. Moreover, after the Canada GP mishap, Lewis Hamilton indirectly accused Mercedes of purposely sabotaging his race, thus favouring the young Brit. Now, in a fresh twist in the tale, a leaked email confirming the sabotage claims against Mercedes have taken the F1 world by storm.
Anonymous Employee Accuses Mercedes Of Sabotaging Lewis Hamilton
Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton gave rise to a storm when he indirectly accused Mercedes of sabotaging his race in Montreal with dubious strategy. He claimed that while George Russell was given the ideal set of medium tyres under the safety car, his car was fitted with a hard compound, which led to the crucial loss of lap time. Not only that, Lewis suggested that he does not expect to beat George in qualifying all through the year. That gave rise to a debate about preferential treatment to Russell especially when Hamilton is leaving for Ferrari in 2025. Meanwhile, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the internal turmoil story had a new twist. Apparently, an unnamed Mercedes employee sent out emails to F1 journalists to confirm the team’s ill-treatment of Lewis.
The email, allegedly sent by an agitated Mercedes employee, claimed that Lewis Hamilton had been purposely sabotaged and held back against George Russell. It alleged systematic sabotage of Lewis’ car, tyre, car strategy and mental health. Several employees of Hamilton’s camp are unhappy with this and have urged journalists to ask the right questions to unearth the complete truth. Moreover, Daily Mail reported that a source close to the team has revealed that several components of the email are true. The Silver Arrows have a feeling that Hamilton is being purposely held back. That being said, the seven-time world champion refused to acknowledge the existence of such an email. Instead, he urged fans to stop targetting Russell online and spread positivity for the sake of the team’s ideal progress this year.
James Allison Rejects Sabotaging Claims Against Hamilton
After the anonymous email caused an uproar on social media, Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison dismissed the speculations. He said both cars can be identical. However, the setups end up being different because of a driver’s particular engineering team’s assessment. “They have the chance to have identical stuff if they choose,” Allison added while addressing instability claims.
However, the email matter suggests something different. The anonymous email has accused every other Mercedes personnel except for Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer, Peter Bonnington, and others who love him of pushing Hamilton to a life-threatening situation. “A cold tyre strategy is a death warrant,” read the email. However, it’s important to note that the authenticity of the email is yet to be established.
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