MONTMELÓ, Spain (AP) — Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says police are investigating an email sent to motorsport journalists and Formula 1 teams claiming that Mercedes is sabotaging the performances of Lewis Hamilton following his decision to leave for Ferrari.
The team had “the police inquiring” about the recent email that was sent from an anonymous account, Wolff said at the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday.
The email alleges Mercedes is intentionally trying to hurt Hamilton’s showings by compromising his car, tire strategy and mental health.
Wolff called those accusations groundless “conspiracy theories.”
“We are researching the IP address. We are researching the phone, all of that, because online abuse in that way needs to stop,” he said.
“Lewis (has been) part of the team for 12 years. There is a friendship, we trust each other, we want to end this on a high note, celebrate the relationship. And if you don’t believe all that, you can believe we want to win the constructors’ world championship. So to all these mad people out there, take a shrink.”
Hamilton stunned the F1 world in February when he announced he was leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari in 2025, thereby setting an end date to a partnership that helped him win six of his seven world championships.
Hamilton has been slightly outperformed by teammate George Russell this season. Russell is in seventh place in the drivers’ standings, six points ahead of Hamilton in eighth. Russell has also clocked faster qualifying times than Hamilton in eight of the nine races so far.