Mercedes go to police over email claiming Lewis Hamilton’s car was ‘sabotaged’

Mercedes have reported an anonymous email which claimed Lewis Hamilton’s car has been “sabotaged” to the police.

The letter, said to be written by a disgruntled Mercedes staff member, was sent to Formula One’s major players – including the Silver Arrows’ team principal Toto Wolff, F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, as well as members of the media – in the wake of the Canadian Grand Prix earlier this month.

The email suggested Hamilton, who is leaving Mercedes to join Ferrari next season, is being mistreated in his farewell campaign with the Silver Arrows.

Mercedes, who are confident the email did not originate from within their team, confirmed to the PA news agency that they investigated the provenance of correspondence and have now turned the matter over to the police.

Speaking prior to this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton, 39, said he had not seen the e-mail which was addressed to the same recipients used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.

The message, titled “a potential death warrant for Lewis”, accused Wolff of being “vindictive” and said the Austrian, 52, “is doing everything possible to get back at him (Hamilton)” for electing to quit Mercedes for Ferrari.

It added that it “could ultimately be life-threatening to Lewis”.

Social media is also awash with claims of foul play against Hamilton.

Responding to the claims on Thursday, the 39-year-old said: “They know that if you look down the years we have been a strong team and worked hard together,” said Hamilton, who revealed that he has not seen the e-mail in question.

“It is easy to get emotional. I only commented on the last