Mercedes boss angered by coverage of Hamilton's no-show at F1 London Live and claims of a rift within the Silver Arrows
Sunday 16 July 2017 20:21, UK
Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has launched a trenchant defence of Lewis Hamilton and hit out at reports of a rift with his star driver.
The Silver Arrows team boss also condemned media coverage of Hamilton's decision not to attend the F1 Live event in London ahead of this weekend's British GP.
"The way he has been treated by certain media is wrong and not fair," Wolff told reporters. "Before his home race at Silverstone and after rough weekends in Baku and Austria to treat the local superstar in that way is absolutely against how l see things.
"Questioning whether a three-time world champion, who has just broken [Ayrton Senna's] all-time pole record, and who is going to beat Schumacher's record, understands how to prepare himself is an insult."
Wolff was equally unimpressed with claims that not only had he objected to Hamilton's no-show in the capital but the driver himself was aggrieved at Wolff recently attending Sebastian Vettel's 30th birthday party.
"The dynamics are great," responded Wolff. "There were rubbish stories that there were some relationship problems between Lewis and the team and Lewis and myself.
"I give him freedom to organise his days in the way he wants. If he feels being away from Formula 1 environment, being with his friends, helps him extract performance then so be it
"I am perfectly fine with it and l was always perfectly fine with it. We flagged the risk that it could be seen as not right not to attend the events. But in the team there was never an issue and between us there was never an issue."
In an earlier interview with Sky Sports News HQ, Wolff said: "I said to him 'you have to do whatever is right for your championship and if you feel that you need these days off then please take them. I have no problem whatsoever'. We both agreed he should stay where he is."
Hamilton to extend Mercedes deal?
A report on the eve of Saturday's action at Silverstone had made fresh claims about a possible Ferrari move for Hamilton once his Mercedes contract expires at the end of 2018.
But asked about Hamilton's future, Wolff told SSNHQ: "We are having a really good relationship and talking about the future, albeit this is a very tough championship so we are concentrating on the weekends.
"Lewis is very much linked to Mercedes, and we love him as a driver, and I think the same for us is valid for him, we are going to try to find an agreement for the future."
Wolff also responded to quotes attributed to Red Bull chief Christian Horner suggesting that the Mercedes boss was trying to advise Vettel to sign just a one-year extension at Ferrari for 2018 to leave him open for the following year.
"Christian has been planting a little bit of mischief everywhere between McLaren and Mercedes, between Ferrari and Mercedes," responded Wolff.
"We are having a driver strategy that's very clear: we love our two drivers, Lewis and Valtteri. That functions really well and if it was down to me alone I would like to continue with this for many more years. This is clearly our main priority."
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