Lewis Hamilton responds to ‘sabotage’ and ‘foul play’ claims at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton has called for support for Mercedes and defended teammate George Russell in the wake of wild claims about sabotage and foul play existing within the team.

The seven-time world champion has endured a difficult start to the 2024 campaign - his final F1 season with Mercedes before making a blockbuster switch to Ferrari for 2025.

Hamilton has largely been out-performed by Russell and is trailing his teammate 1-8 in the qualifying head-to-heads. The 39-year-old’s bizarre claim in Monaco that he doesn’t expect to out qualify Russell again this year, and his below-par form, has led to theories that Mercedes could be favouring Russell.

Speaking to media including Crash.net on Thursday at the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton was asked what he made of the suspicions and claims coming from some of his fanbase on social media.

“They know that, if you look at the years, we’ve always been a strong team, we’ve always worked really hard together,” Hamilton said.“I think it is easy to get emotional, I even commented in the last race for example just how I have faults. I think we need support, not negativity.

“I wasn’t actually aware that George was experiencing any negativity. George has done nothing but his best every single weekend and delivering for the team, so he can’t be faulted at all.

“Of course there are always things that can be better within a team and that comes through conversations, through communication, and that’s what we’re consistently working on.

“But we’re all in the same boat, we’re all working hard together and we all want to finish on a high. We owe that to our long-term relationship.”

Asked if he was aware of an email claiming to be from a Mercedes team member raising concerns about his car being sabotaged, Hamilton responded: “I just commented on it so not much more to add. I haven’t seen the email.”

Russell insisted he had not seen any negativity directed towards him, but said it demonstrates how social media can be a “double-edged sword”.

“Personally I don’t look on Instagram or Twitter to be honest,” he said. “I still control my own account, so I work with my team and all of the content that goes out is through me, and all of the captions, everything, is all of my messaging.

“But I think social media is a really double-edged sword. There are so many funny things that you see on social media, and it keeps you up to date with so much. But then on the flip side it’s not just myself but everybody in the limelight there seems to be negativity pointed towards them.

“Like Lewis said, you want to feel the support, not giving out negativity to others. It’s not something I’ve seen, I’ve heard about it. Of course it’s never nice to hear this stuff but that’s unfortunately the world we live in at the moment and any person in the public eye is facing.”