MERCEDES HIRE PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS TO HUNT THE SOURCE OF ANONYMOUS EMAILS AND TEXT MESSAGES TO F1 CHIEFS CLAIMING LEWIS HAMILTON IS BEING 'SABOTAGED' BY HIS OWN TEAM
- Anonymous messages have claimed Lewis Hamilton is being 'sabotaged'
- Some correspondence has also claimed Toto Wolff is favouring George Russell
- The Mercedes team principal said he would go 'full force' over the accusations
Mercedes have engaged private investigators to detect the source of anonymous email and SMS messages claiming that Lewis Hamilton is being ‘sabotaged’ by his own team.
In a statement released today, meanwhile, Northamptonshire Police said no crime has been committed.
But Mercedes will not let the matter lie. A team spokesman confirmed to Mail Sport that they had outsourced the matter to a firm that specialises in this kind of investigation.
‘It is being dealt with externally,’ said the spokesman, who would not elaborate on the identity of the specialists involved.
This development comes after Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stated last week that he would ‘go full force’ over the accusations, made on June 10, the day after the last-but-one race in Canada, and sent to members of the Formula One community.
That email – at least purporting to be from a team member – went under the emotive subject title: ‘A potential death warrant for Lewis,’ arguing that the seven-time world champion was being endangered by being given cold tyres, an allegation amplified in the SMS.
The correspondence claimed that a ‘scorned’ Wolff was favouring his other driver George Russell after Hamilton announced his decision to decamp to Ferrari next year.
Ahead of last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, where Hamilton finished third, a place ahead of Russell, Wolff denounced the email’s contents, saying: ‘It is not from a member of the team. But it is upsetting, particularly when someone is talking about death.
‘I don’t know what some of the conspiracy theorists, lunatics, think out there.’
A spokesman for Northamptonshire Police said today: ‘Northamptonshire Police received a report on June 12 regarding an email that had been circulated within the Mercedes AMG F1 team.
'No criminal offences were found to have been committed. However, advice was given regarding any further emails the team may receive.’
Mail Sport understands that advice was to contact them if any further such emails arrived.
A Mercedes spokesman indicated that the team believe the email was sent by a random Hamilton fan.
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