Controversy struck the Mercedes Formula 1 team on the eve of the 2024 Spanish GP as an email alleging intentional sabotage of Lewis Hamilton was sent to the media and the Silver Arrows. This led to the team, led by Toto Wolff, alerting the police.
Former F1 team boss Guenther Steiner has now labeled approaching the police as blowing the entire controversy out of proportion. Steiner recently appeared on the Red Flags Podcast and called Wolff out for his dramatic reaction to the email.
Steiner explained, “I think it is all overrated, overblown. I mean you call the police. If there is no real threat there, I mean the police is not going to look [at] who it is and do a full investigation and everything. I think Toto got a bit ahead of himself.”
The Italian-American’s main argument was that until no real threat had been made to life, there really was no need for Wolff to take such a drastic step as involving the police. Moreover, Steiner even felt that the Austrian did himself no favors by taking such a call.
The email that became the focal point of this controversy contained some really scathing accusations against the Silver Arrows and more particularly against Wolff. It claimed that the 52-year-old was out there to intentionally sabotage Hamilton‘s “results, mental health and even physical health.”
Police deliver their verdict on the Lewis Hamilton sabotage email
The allegations raised in the particular email were mainly targeted against Toto Wolff himself. The email was sent anonymously and was circulated not only to the organization but also to the media. Some reports suggest that it was the same group of people who were sent the Christian Horner files.
In the end, however, Steiner’s perception of how the entire case would be treated was spot on. The statement from the police read,
“Northamptonshire Police received a report on June 12 regarding an email that had been circulated within the Mercedes AMG F1 Team. No criminal offenses were found to have been committed. However, advice was given regarding any further emails the team may receive,” as per GPBlog.com.
Mercedes have called upon police to investigate the source of an anonymous email accusing the F1 team of trying to deliberately sabotage Lewis Hamilton’s car.
The message claimed to be from an existing team member and alleged that Mercedes have intentionally put Hamilton, who… pic.twitter.com/ktJdeKAk9T
— F1 NEWSHUB (@formulanewshub) June 22, 2024
As things stand, this entire matter has seemingly been brought to a dead-end by the police. But the fans still believe that there is some truth to the allegations contained in that anonymous email with respect to the #44 driver’s season being sabotaged.
