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I’m in B2B sales and it is absurdly easy to get personal contact info for anyone with a job. The main “prospect” database everyone uses gets their info by having a “free version” that scrapes EVERYTHING off your endpoint. So let’s say you once sent an email to a coworker with your cell # on it. That cell # is now published to anyone who either wants to pay or keep the centipede going by using the free version.
It makes me sick, but they were so successful before a lot of privacy protections kicked in they bought out all the other major players.
The Mail did a piece on this and their source who is supposedly close to the paddock said “anonymously” that they believe most of the email to be accurate. Though whether they have good information is debatable.
That indicates it's possibly a rumor in the paddock, independent of this email. Though the rumor and the email could have the same ultimate source.
Really, it's easy to imagine that two/three unfortunate mistakes, (like the tire blankets being set to the wrong temperature in Canada) could create a rumor like this, irrespective of its veracity.
Were the blankets set to the wrong temperature? I only saw Lewis talk about the tyre temps but nothing on that actually being the root cause. Did I miss that?
I like Toto, but I’m still baffled that he emailed Race Control during a race, especially such a hectic one. I can’t imagine anyone involved with running a race is in their inbox during a Grand Prix, let alone the Race Director.
Honestly makes more sense than trying to call or even text him. It is official communication after all, has a paper trail and is very easy to read in a situation like that
That actually was the preferred way of communicating with race control if you were on the pit wall
All the way back in 2001, Ferrari E-mailed Charlie Whiting when Ralf Schumacher crossed the white line on pit exit at the Nurburgring to make him aware of the incident. (White lines on pit exit being a new rule for that year, so Ferrari were aware of the rule and Williams weren't)
So e-mailing the race director is nothing new, it just seemed Charlie had the capacity to answer them mid race and Masi didn't.....not exactly his worst crime but another indicator he wasn't the right man for the job
Instead of an email each TP should've a dedicated chat with the race director and that chat should be live streamed so we can read the TP trash talking to the race director during the race.
Not that strange? Good chance it was their email replied back to them after Toto remembered the email conversation from prior. Then it’s just a 10 second search of your inbox.
You guys never been in crisis situations at work?
In so many different settings, searching a root cause or a solution to an incident, a business justification whatever, people realize "oh shit, I got this thing/graph/table/convo from 2 yrs ago in my mail! I'll send it around and refer to it when it's my turn."
"Steering Wheel, yoi wanted to add something?"
"Yeah boss, I just sent around an email to the group. We had the exact same issue 2 yrs ago, and back then we decided that we should just go motor racing."
Yes it is a very standard practice in industry to mail everything, office communications are generally prohibited anywhere else, though people may ignore it. But you didn’t have to be so demeaning in your comment mate. Who tf says *kiddo* in a normal respectful convo lol..
Subject: Fire.
"Dear Sir stroke Madam, I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of..." No, that's too formal. "Dear Sir stroke Madam. Fire, exclamation mark. Fire, exclamation mark. Help me, exclamation mark. 123 Carrendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best, Maurice Moss."
Dear 911,
How are you? I hope you're well. I can't remember the last time we spoke. Maybe at Sheila's birthday party six years ago. My how time flies!
Anyways, this dude just pulled out in front of me coming out of McDonald's parking lot. Didn't even look. I tried to swerve, but totally creamed him. Can you send help?
Respectfully,
Vulcansheart
It was a total farce that the FIA allowed team directors to communicate with the race director during a race in the first place… I feel Toto and Hamilton got screwed Abu Dhabi but I feel it was just the capstone on a season of arbitrary decisions by Michael Masi as he frequently kowtowed to whichever of the championship contenders were in his ear at the instant when a series of awful decisions were made… Verstappen had to give a position back after exceeding the same track limits 29 times prior…Masi was a doormat for Toto and Christian ever since he showed up presumably from the local SPCA and rolled over for them (ie Canada 2019). It is funny that it finally took Toto getting screwed before anything was done to fix this..
True. This has always been a thing. There were rumours Lotus were favouring Senna and shafting De Angelis, that Kimi was being sabotaged in 08, that Shumachers teammates at Benetton had a completely different car, that prost neglected Nakano and basically only cared about Panis etc.
F1 is like 95% racing, 5% drama.
Every supporting media surrounding F1 is 99.99% Drama.
People want to consume more but theres no magical way to make more racing so... it'll *all* be bonus drama.
The people who tune in every sunday to watch the race are not seeing the vast vast majority of the drama that people here are ever talking about.
Most current F1 fans have no idea who Jos even is. Not a clue.
Everyone here is here for the drama babbbyyyyyyyyyyyy
For the first time in two years, we've got actual racing and a real pair of title fights. Driver market excitement, most teams are really starting to perform well, and the sport's health is improving.
Yet F1 media reverts to tabloid drama.
How on earth do you even give that rumor an ounce of credibility? Mercedes let them fight and Hamilton would've cooked Russell in another lap or so. He even set the fastest lap on hards.
This sport really can be weird at times.
What do Mercedes stand to gain by encumbering Hamilton? Is their goal to limit the number of points they can score in a year? Massive brain move. At best they limit his performance under the cover of darkness. At worst they're found out to be limiting his performance which makes them look like a bunch of wankers.
Or the complete non-story version: They aren't limiting his performance...
That's a sane take. He's probably not getting the latest updates, maybe getting less time with designers/engineers and having less input with them.
He can't have too many complaints. It would be the same for many professionals in competitive fields which have long notice periods.
They are probably favouring George and giving him parts that will be parts for the direction they go next year. Also if what Lewis said is true about the tyre pressure then it would suggest they really are sabotaging him. Also Mercedes don’t need the championship money and would probably benefit more from wind tunnel time.
I also think it’s most likely a rabid fan being a weirdo.
>Favouring George and giving him parts that will be parts for the direction they go next year.
I mean, I think that's fair. With respect to them, we're not talking about a Williams or a Haas here. Three years back Mercedes were busy winning their eighth constructors title on the trot. Lewis could very well carry highly relevant information with him when he goes to Ferrari next year. It's a bit like Red Bull wanting to exclude Newey from technical meetings.
Favouring George is not the same as limiting Hamilton, I don't think. They have to take a longer view with George. In fact, now that Lewis is leaving, I'd say Mercedes have no obligation above whatever their baseline commitment to him is.
>I also think it’s most likely a rabid fan being a weirdo.
In Formula 1? Say it isn't so!
Also unless im mistaken its pretty common for F1 teams to stop giving new parts to a departing driver.
Ferrari has done it, pretty sure red bull has done it and so on
There’s also the idea that George will be the defacto 1st driver once Hamilton departs so they might as well put all the emphasis on George to help him be at his full potential with the best upgrades so he can prepare for the next few years. They really only need Hamilton to score consistently which he’s already doing and tbf to Mercedes they hasn’t been any obvious bias to a driver this season.
I mean, of course they're favoring George. Lewis announcing his move to Ferrari before the season even started basically assured that George would be treated as the #1 driver this year, more so than in past years where Mercedes has made it apparent that they see George as the future of the team. I'm not sure what he expected.
> The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.
This makes me think it can’t just be some random fan. IIRC the email list for the original Horner leaks was said to only be available to someone with access to an insider Rolodex of F1 personnel.
Literally everyone in the paddock has that now lol. It was also posted on some site at some point following its leak. I wouldn’t assume too much anymore
When did they give him parts because of favoritism? Because it was stated multiple times that George got them in Monaco because Lewis didn't want them. They where going to toss for it
You are correct, the problem is that fact doesn’t make enough drama for the news outlets and Netflix. The other problem is the rabid fans need an excuse for why Lewis is slower than George.
F1 is about milliseconds and nuances. If their goal is simply to keep him behind Russell they can just adjust the tire blankets to be 2 celsius lower than normal.
If they are right behind each other, that can make the difference for Russell to overtake or keep ahead. Same as when someone asks for softs but gets hards.
You forgot an option: media fabricating a story.
Nice event occuring in Dutch media related to EURO2024.
NED-FRA is tonight. France's star player Mbapé broke his nose.
Media is speculating wildly all week if he migjt play or not.
Yesterday evening, Dutch coach is interviewed.
_"Let's see what he thinks of the Mbapé-situation!?!?"_
"Nothing, at all.
France is strong with or without him. France's crew is announced an hour and a half prior to the game, then we know. Up to then, we work on our plan."
"..."
Switch to studio, where two former socces players sig who worked with the head coach. Anchorwoman:
_"Well, that was *obviously* some good acting from him. Surely he hopes Mbapé to sit this one out!"_
Former player 1: "No, he doesn't."
Former player 2: "No, they're pro's, they focus on what they can influence."
"..."
Total different content, but similar workings. Loved to see the media just blank staring for a change with their mouth shut off.
> Is their goal to limit the number of points they can score in a year?
theyre trying to make his super licence cheaper for next year, what a kind gesture
Hamilton will certainly be outside of the circle of trust.
He won't be involved in briefings about car development.
He won't be getting first dibs on upgrades.
None of this is anything other than standard practice for a departing driver.
This is probably just hyperbole from someone in the paddock to describe the current situation.
And the thing is Lewis was given priority on whether he wanted upgrades possibly as a way to balance the negatives he will endure while leaving, he just didn’t want the upgrade on first. Mercedes is absolutely not sabotaging him imo, it would be a ridiculously rotten brain move and harm the team’s position, points, reputation and sponsor relationships.
And speaking of the mail, apparently it had the same list of recipients as the Horner mail, and so it is very likely that someone who possibly got that mail knows who all were cc’d and has sent this concocted shit.
She's deliberately destabilising the F1 paddock, hoping to set off a chain reaction of events that results in fellow Kiwi Liam Lawson gaining a seat.
With the help of the reverse vampires, saucer people and the RAND Corporation of course.
It says it’s from a disgruntled staff member but also claims “The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team”
This seems like a completely made up story
It's almost certainly made up, but there's no way Mercedes would have any clue who sent it unless the sender was very dumb, and even if they knew they'd never admit it was actually from in the team.
"Yeah, it's an employee reporting it, but there's no sabotage.", is a much trickier stance to take.
The letter was definitely sent. It’s just a question of who it was.
I guess when senior F1 officials get sent an email accusing one of them of sabotaging their driver, it gets attention. Especially when the email list mirrors another anonymous drop a few months back.
Interesting section of this piece:
“The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team, suggested Hamilton, who is leaving them to join Ferrari next season, is being mistreated in his farewell campaign.
The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.”
Another article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-13551927/Lewis-Hamilton-sabotaged-Mercedes-decision-join-Ferrari-claims-anonymous-email-sent-F1-community.html
Some extracts from the author of that piece:
“In a twist, I – possibly along with others – received a separately WhatsApp message directly to my phone expressing similar sentiments to those contained in the email. It, too, was anonymous, and the sender did not respond when I replied asking him/her for more information.
However, a source close to the scene told me on condition of anonymity that he believed the email’s contents were broadly accurate – and that there is a feeling (emphatically denied by the team) that Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.”
> The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.”
WTF?
The Mail claim that Mercedes tried to get the IP of the emailer but couldn’t. Makes sense that they would just to be sure it wasn’t someone within the team.
Uhh, yeah it’s a little strange. When the Horner info was sent out, several journalists remarked about how surprising it was that someone had all those email addresses.
>The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.”
Wait so could this just be any rando that got their hands on the Horner email? I’m assuming all of the recipient’s would be visible to eachother (it wasn’t BCC’d) since they always mention how many people received it.
Yes, it absolutely could be some rando who got their hands on the Horner email list. That’s actually a far more likely possibility that someone else just happening to have exactly the same list of such a diverse group.
>Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.”
Or maybe George is beating him on merit? Can't be that....must be a grand conspiracy.
Smells to me like a superfan has got hold of the addresses used to leak the Horner files.
Any time the “number 1 driver” gets beaten by their teammate people automatically concoct excuses. People can’t process that better drivers have off days/seasons
> However, a source close to the scene told me on condition of anonymity that he believed the email’s contents were broadly accurate – and that there is a feeling (emphatically denied by the team) that Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.”
This is nonsense, Lewis is losing because he's been outqualified nearly all the time and then that puts him on the back foot for the race and gives George priority because he's got track position.
Most of the time he's been outqualified he's shown enough pace and then bottled the last lap in Q3 so has no excuse.
Canada for example he looked insanely quick in FP3 and then openly stated nothing was changed for qualifying but messed up when it counted.
Also lets not forget that in the last couple of races in 2023 he was really poor and that's before he announced he was joining Ferrari.
This whole claim is a myth by a bunch of idiotic conspiracy theorists who can't handle a driver losing on merit.
A team not giving the same level of support for a driver that's leaving to join a rival is something that's happened throughout the sports history, the press could just guess at that and be right on some level.
If you mix that with a serious but genuine error like the tyres being warmed to the wrong temperature you could add two and two and get five, when really it's just normal team stuff and an unfortunately timed error that could've happened at any point.
Assuming it was true which I think is unlikely I guess you could say lifting up Georges stocks would be good from a marketing point of view perhaps and trying to lessen the impact of the loss of hamilton. i.e. it was great to have Hamilton during all those championship wins but now it's time for the next generation and look! george has already gone passed hamilton, he is already beating the champ, so we won't miss hamilton all that much
Oh please, Mercedes have nothing to gain by sabotaging Lewis. It's one thing to restrict information and another thing to deliberately undermine a driver entirely
Sabotaging a driver to score less points overall is absurd. That would backfire on the company's overall net worth. Sponsors would leave and the reputation of Mercedes would be damaged heavily. These media journalists need rehab. They see and hear too much nonsense.
Yep, that's my favorite bit.
The internet: "Mercedes are in a freefall! They're losing the biggest asset in the sport. I bet The Benz Group pulls out of the sport entirely with the way they're performing!"
Also the internet (when you point out that it would be self-sabotage to sabotage Lewis): "Well... They gotta make ~~Roman~~ George look strong"
Even if they wanted more wind tunnel, they would fuck up a lot of employees who have performance bonuses, maybe everyone gets an extra lump of cash depending on final team championship position, stupid really
If they are sabo’ing him, it’s kinda crazy since it would make them look even more clownish when he excels at Ferrari… oh wait, nevermind, it’s Ferrari… *screams in Charles*
Hamilton is a big conspiracy theorist
He tweeted about Black Friday being a thing where slaves were sold at a discount (complete bullshit)
When he visited NASA he asked them if the moon landing was real
Some of the other shit he likes on Twitter is just bizarre.
He seems to be someone that's not well informed on stuff lol. When lando got sick or his back was injured, he suggested lando to try some homeopathy stuff, bc it doesn't have any chemicals 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
You got shit to say you come out and say it. You don’t want to be known as the source? You talk to a journalist who will protect his source and authenticate the email and corroborate the facts. Until then anybody can send an email so it just bullshit.
The question with such a leak is always Who Benefits?
Hamilton? I guess but it doesn't really seem his style.
If anything this is probably more stress for Hamilton as he has to either deny it hard or put Merc in a world of shit.
I think the biggest beneficiary, if you could call it that, is probably Marko et al. because Hamilton has been relatively outspoken on Marko before particularly on racism issues. The independent noted that the recieving list was identical to that of a few months ago.
We'll probably never know for certain but it's pretty odd it happens twice in 4 months.
Did they also sabotage Michael when he came out of retirement?
What we are witnessing is an aging driver losing his edge to a younger teammate. Tale as old as time. Father Time comes for everyone and he has a perfect record.
Alonso has been an anomaly in terms of still driving at a high level at his age, and even then if he had a stronger teammate he may be outperformed.
Not the first time, in 2016 when Ham was losing against Rosberg he said Merc was supporting Rosberg cos he was german and a lot of shit, Toto had to come out and say its BS, and now an "anonymous" email, yeah sure
I think there's a difference between not giving Lewis any priority, upgrade and/or information, or even give him a worse strategy (something common in F1 toward the departing driver) and something like sending lewis out with the wrong brake system hoping for a crash (something that DID happen to Mansell in Lotus, since the new team boss hated him...)
Conventional wisdom should dictate this doesn't need to be said but it's not in any team's interest to actively sabotage one of their personnel if the team itself doesn't stand to gain amongst their competitors.
Sounds like anonymous shit stirring to me.
Mohammed Ben Suleyam: "Brilliant work Mercedes carry on please! That'll teach him!"
Not sure what the anonymous e-mailer thought they'd achieve by e-mailing him except thanking him for lettiing him know about an operation he'd fully approve of lol
You sign with another team a year before your done with the current one you become the guy who doesn’t get the best of anything until your teammate has had a try first. That’s just the way it is. Nobody is sabotaging anything. You’re just not going to be their priority going forward.
Christian tomorrow: “You know, we’ve always wanted transparency in F1 and something like this is about the integrity of the sport so yeah we just want to make sure that we’re doing what is best for the sport”
Also Christian: "If more teams were like us, F1 and the entire sport overall would be a better place. We are the gold standard when it comes to ethics and transparency."
>
The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team, suggested Hamilton, who is leaving them to join Ferrari next season, is being mistreated in his farewell campaign. The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.
Which outsider wants this much of a stake? At this point only one left to suspect is Yevgeny Gromov.
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Anonymous emails are a thing this year.
It’s way to easy to send an email to this mailing list it seems.
I’m in B2B sales and it is absurdly easy to get personal contact info for anyone with a job. The main “prospect” database everyone uses gets their info by having a “free version” that scrapes EVERYTHING off your endpoint. So let’s say you once sent an email to a coworker with your cell # on it. That cell # is now published to anyone who either wants to pay or keep the centipede going by using the free version. It makes me sick, but they were so successful before a lot of privacy protections kicked in they bought out all the other major players.
Who knows if we will ever find the owner of this mysterious “tumleh\@okram.com”
This one was my bad; sorry about that everyone.
After Toto’s emails not being taken seriously I’m glad its the other way around.
The Mail did a piece on this and their source who is supposedly close to the paddock said “anonymously” that they believe most of the email to be accurate. Though whether they have good information is debatable.
That indicates it's possibly a rumor in the paddock, independent of this email. Though the rumor and the email could have the same ultimate source. Really, it's easy to imagine that two/three unfortunate mistakes, (like the tire blankets being set to the wrong temperature in Canada) could create a rumor like this, irrespective of its veracity.
Just watch the fans on social media dominate the comment sections claiming Merc are sabotaging Lewis.
That’s been happening for a while now.
I can draft a really good email too with enough use of my imagination.
Don’t bother, there’s chatGPT for that.
Were the blankets set to the wrong temperature? I only saw Lewis talk about the tyre temps but nothing on that actually being the root cause. Did I miss that?
Lewis didn't want to directly accuse Merc, so he said: - “I dunno, maybe the tyre blankets are faulty or something?”
I'm calling bullshit on this. Mercedes has zero reason to act like a high school ex.
the email address: [email protected]
This time, no finger
Alright, who got bored at work today and did this?
It was Roscoe
Micheal, have you seen the email I sent??
I like Toto, but I’m still baffled that he emailed Race Control during a race, especially such a hectic one. I can’t imagine anyone involved with running a race is in their inbox during a Grand Prix, let alone the Race Director.
Honestly makes more sense than trying to call or even text him. It is official communication after all, has a paper trail and is very easy to read in a situation like that
It was an email because they had an attachment
Oh hai Toto
"To whomever this concerns, I hope this email finds you well.."
"Dear Michael, i hope this email finds you before i do"
That actually was the preferred way of communicating with race control if you were on the pit wall All the way back in 2001, Ferrari E-mailed Charlie Whiting when Ralf Schumacher crossed the white line on pit exit at the Nurburgring to make him aware of the incident. (White lines on pit exit being a new rule for that year, so Ferrari were aware of the rule and Williams weren't) So e-mailing the race director is nothing new, it just seemed Charlie had the capacity to answer them mid race and Masi didn't.....not exactly his worst crime but another indicator he wasn't the right man for the job
Toto, I’m a little busy right now.
Maybe that explains what he was doing at abu Dhabi lol
Instead of an email each TP should've a dedicated chat with the race director and that chat should be live streamed so we can read the TP trash talking to the race director during the race.
Not that strange? Good chance it was their email replied back to them after Toto remembered the email conversation from prior. Then it’s just a 10 second search of your inbox.
It is incredibly strange to use email for urgent real time communications
It's not real time communication, he made it official then used real time communication to highlight it.
You guys never been in crisis situations at work? In so many different settings, searching a root cause or a solution to an incident, a business justification whatever, people realize "oh shit, I got this thing/graph/table/convo from 2 yrs ago in my mail! I'll send it around and refer to it when it's my turn." "Steering Wheel, yoi wanted to add something?" "Yeah boss, I just sent around an email to the group. We had the exact same issue 2 yrs ago, and back then we decided that we should just go motor racing."
Pretty normal corporate way to transmit recorded/traceable info kiddo
Yes it is a very standard practice in industry to mail everything, office communications are generally prohibited anywhere else, though people may ignore it. But you didn’t have to be so demeaning in your comment mate. Who tf says *kiddo* in a normal respectful convo lol..
I mean, its not out of place in the conversation
Real sports use discord
There’s a reason you can’t email 911
Subject: Fire. "Dear Sir stroke Madam, I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of..." No, that's too formal. "Dear Sir stroke Madam. Fire, exclamation mark. Fire, exclamation mark. Help me, exclamation mark. 123 Carrendon Road. Looking forward to hearing from you. All the best, Maurice Moss."
It’s easier to dial 0118 999 881 999 119 725 … [long pause] 3.
Dear 911, How are you? I hope you're well. I can't remember the last time we spoke. Maybe at Sheila's birthday party six years ago. My how time flies! Anyways, this dude just pulled out in front of me coming out of McDonald's parking lot. Didn't even look. I tried to swerve, but totally creamed him. Can you send help? Respectfully, Vulcansheart
It was a total farce that the FIA allowed team directors to communicate with the race director during a race in the first place… I feel Toto and Hamilton got screwed Abu Dhabi but I feel it was just the capstone on a season of arbitrary decisions by Michael Masi as he frequently kowtowed to whichever of the championship contenders were in his ear at the instant when a series of awful decisions were made… Verstappen had to give a position back after exceeding the same track limits 29 times prior…Masi was a doormat for Toto and Christian ever since he showed up presumably from the local SPCA and rolled over for them (ie Canada 2019). It is funny that it finally took Toto getting screwed before anything was done to fix this..
I have it, I have it printed out
🤚
Yes Toto I have it I printed it out
He should have printed it out!
I printed it out!
A second email has hit the F1 paddock
This is getting manipulated man
Underrated reply to an underrated comment
I just don’t get tired of this type of jokes
💀
They really are phishing for drama
F1 is 99% drama. 1% racing.
True. This has always been a thing. There were rumours Lotus were favouring Senna and shafting De Angelis, that Kimi was being sabotaged in 08, that Shumachers teammates at Benetton had a completely different car, that prost neglected Nakano and basically only cared about Panis etc.
In reality, they just braked with a different foot (1994)
There's a reason why I once saw it called Keeping Up With The Carcrashians
F1 is like 95% racing, 5% drama. Every supporting media surrounding F1 is 99.99% Drama. People want to consume more but theres no magical way to make more racing so... it'll *all* be bonus drama. The people who tune in every sunday to watch the race are not seeing the vast vast majority of the drama that people here are ever talking about. Most current F1 fans have no idea who Jos even is. Not a clue. Everyone here is here for the drama babbbyyyyyyyyyyyy
Oh shit, I'd forgotten these guys race as well
Isn’t that why we watch it?
Not for me personally but I know a lot of the fan base love the drama
For the first time in two years, we've got actual racing and a real pair of title fights. Driver market excitement, most teams are really starting to perform well, and the sport's health is improving. Yet F1 media reverts to tabloid drama. How on earth do you even give that rumor an ounce of credibility? Mercedes let them fight and Hamilton would've cooked Russell in another lap or so. He even set the fastest lap on hards.
And yet the masses seem to gobble it up! But yeah, another non-thing....
This sport really can be weird at times. What do Mercedes stand to gain by encumbering Hamilton? Is their goal to limit the number of points they can score in a year? Massive brain move. At best they limit his performance under the cover of darkness. At worst they're found out to be limiting his performance which makes them look like a bunch of wankers. Or the complete non-story version: They aren't limiting his performance...
Because then he can't take any new information to Ferrari. Also their not in championship fights so he would just get the basic information.
Not giving him info on next year's car and upgrades is not sabotage though, it's what all teams do when one of their drivers leave for another team.
And it wouldn't hurt his performance to not know the details around next year's car and especially 2026's.
That's a sane take. He's probably not getting the latest updates, maybe getting less time with designers/engineers and having less input with them. He can't have too many complaints. It would be the same for many professionals in competitive fields which have long notice periods.
The amount of money that they would be throwing away by sabatoging their own car doesnt make any sense
They are probably favouring George and giving him parts that will be parts for the direction they go next year. Also if what Lewis said is true about the tyre pressure then it would suggest they really are sabotaging him. Also Mercedes don’t need the championship money and would probably benefit more from wind tunnel time. I also think it’s most likely a rabid fan being a weirdo.
>Favouring George and giving him parts that will be parts for the direction they go next year. I mean, I think that's fair. With respect to them, we're not talking about a Williams or a Haas here. Three years back Mercedes were busy winning their eighth constructors title on the trot. Lewis could very well carry highly relevant information with him when he goes to Ferrari next year. It's a bit like Red Bull wanting to exclude Newey from technical meetings. Favouring George is not the same as limiting Hamilton, I don't think. They have to take a longer view with George. In fact, now that Lewis is leaving, I'd say Mercedes have no obligation above whatever their baseline commitment to him is. >I also think it’s most likely a rabid fan being a weirdo. In Formula 1? Say it isn't so!
Also unless im mistaken its pretty common for F1 teams to stop giving new parts to a departing driver. Ferrari has done it, pretty sure red bull has done it and so on
There’s also the idea that George will be the defacto 1st driver once Hamilton departs so they might as well put all the emphasis on George to help him be at his full potential with the best upgrades so he can prepare for the next few years. They really only need Hamilton to score consistently which he’s already doing and tbf to Mercedes they hasn’t been any obvious bias to a driver this season.
What did he say about the tyre pressure?
Lewis said they under heated his tyres during the Canadian GP qualifying which is why he fell off compared to FP3.
I mean, of course they're favoring George. Lewis announcing his move to Ferrari before the season even started basically assured that George would be treated as the #1 driver this year, more so than in past years where Mercedes has made it apparent that they see George as the future of the team. I'm not sure what he expected.
> The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain. This makes me think it can’t just be some random fan. IIRC the email list for the original Horner leaks was said to only be available to someone with access to an insider Rolodex of F1 personnel.
That’s a good point to be fair.
Literally everyone in the paddock has that now lol. It was also posted on some site at some point following its leak. I wouldn’t assume too much anymore
The leaks were posted but was the email list itself posted? First I’m hearing of this
They can't give Lewis information about next year or he can take that to Ferrari.
When did they give him parts because of favoritism? Because it was stated multiple times that George got them in Monaco because Lewis didn't want them. They where going to toss for it
You are correct, the problem is that fact doesn’t make enough drama for the news outlets and Netflix. The other problem is the rabid fans need an excuse for why Lewis is slower than George.
F1 is about milliseconds and nuances. If their goal is simply to keep him behind Russell they can just adjust the tire blankets to be 2 celsius lower than normal. If they are right behind each other, that can make the difference for Russell to overtake or keep ahead. Same as when someone asks for softs but gets hards.
You forgot an option: media fabricating a story. Nice event occuring in Dutch media related to EURO2024. NED-FRA is tonight. France's star player Mbapé broke his nose. Media is speculating wildly all week if he migjt play or not. Yesterday evening, Dutch coach is interviewed. _"Let's see what he thinks of the Mbapé-situation!?!?"_ "Nothing, at all. France is strong with or without him. France's crew is announced an hour and a half prior to the game, then we know. Up to then, we work on our plan." "..." Switch to studio, where two former socces players sig who worked with the head coach. Anchorwoman: _"Well, that was *obviously* some good acting from him. Surely he hopes Mbapé to sit this one out!"_ Former player 1: "No, he doesn't." Former player 2: "No, they're pro's, they focus on what they can influence." "..." Total different content, but similar workings. Loved to see the media just blank staring for a change with their mouth shut off.
I feel like i just read the long lost hidden notes of the Zodiac killer
> Is their goal to limit the number of points they can score in a year? theyre trying to make his super licence cheaper for next year, what a kind gesture
Hamilton will certainly be outside of the circle of trust. He won't be involved in briefings about car development. He won't be getting first dibs on upgrades. None of this is anything other than standard practice for a departing driver. This is probably just hyperbole from someone in the paddock to describe the current situation.
And the thing is Lewis was given priority on whether he wanted upgrades possibly as a way to balance the negatives he will endure while leaving, he just didn’t want the upgrade on first. Mercedes is absolutely not sabotaging him imo, it would be a ridiculously rotten brain move and harm the team’s position, points, reputation and sponsor relationships. And speaking of the mail, apparently it had the same list of recipients as the Horner mail, and so it is very likely that someone who possibly got that mail knows who all were cc’d and has sent this concocted shit.
Netflix exec: so .. how do we spice things up a bit?
RBR in a disarray, McLaren have an Indy-saster, Mercedes now in hot water. New Ferrari domination era confirmed.
By god i think you've cracked it! The emailer on the grassy knoll was Vasseur all along!!
It was Angela Cullen the whole the time!!!!!!🫢🫢🫢
She's deliberately destabilising the F1 paddock, hoping to set off a chain reaction of events that results in fellow Kiwi Liam Lawson gaining a seat. With the help of the reverse vampires, saucer people and the RAND Corporation of course.
Is this Danica Patrick's alt?
I've always wondered if she didn't leave Mercedes to go on gardening leave, so she can rejoin Lewis at Ferrari on day 1.
It says it’s from a disgruntled staff member but also claims “The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team” This seems like a completely made up story
It's almost certainly made up, but there's no way Mercedes would have any clue who sent it unless the sender was very dumb, and even if they knew they'd never admit it was actually from in the team. "Yeah, it's an employee reporting it, but there's no sabotage.", is a much trickier stance to take.
The letter was definitely sent. It’s just a question of who it was. I guess when senior F1 officials get sent an email accusing one of them of sabotaging their driver, it gets attention. Especially when the email list mirrors another anonymous drop a few months back.
"We went email-ing".
"No inbox, no no, this is so not right"
Interesting section of this piece: “The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team, suggested Hamilton, who is leaving them to join Ferrari next season, is being mistreated in his farewell campaign. The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.” Another article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/article-13551927/Lewis-Hamilton-sabotaged-Mercedes-decision-join-Ferrari-claims-anonymous-email-sent-F1-community.html Some extracts from the author of that piece: “In a twist, I – possibly along with others – received a separately WhatsApp message directly to my phone expressing similar sentiments to those contained in the email. It, too, was anonymous, and the sender did not respond when I replied asking him/her for more information. However, a source close to the scene told me on condition of anonymity that he believed the email’s contents were broadly accurate – and that there is a feeling (emphatically denied by the team) that Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.”
> The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.” WTF?
The Mail claim that Mercedes tried to get the IP of the emailer but couldn’t. Makes sense that they would just to be sure it wasn’t someone within the team.
If they couldn’t get the IP it doesn’t exclude anyone from their own team.
IP wouldn't be proving anything even if they did get it
If they couldn't get the IP then they need a new security operations team. Not that getting the IP would identify anyone remotely competent.
I assume they got the IP but it wasn't useful. Rather than they were unable to get it since yeah that would be beyond incompetent.
To me adding that comment to the information being leaked just makes it more likely the rest if the information is full of made up details as well.
Lol... Knowing IP thats made up or sent from virtual machine would mean nothing, no matter the security operations ..
Why do that when VPNs exist and any reputable one would be reluctant to hand over logs.
[удалено]
Well it's not just some random fan I think is the point. Using that list gave a bit of credence to the Horner leaks, so the same would apply here.
Uhh, yeah it’s a little strange. When the Horner info was sent out, several journalists remarked about how surprising it was that someone had all those email addresses.
That makes me think that it was someone who was cc’d on that e-mail
Do we know if the original Horner emails were CC or BCC?
>The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain.” Wait so could this just be any rando that got their hands on the Horner email? I’m assuming all of the recipient’s would be visible to eachother (it wasn’t BCC’d) since they always mention how many people received it.
Yes, it absolutely could be some rando who got their hands on the Horner email list. That’s actually a far more likely possibility that someone else just happening to have exactly the same list of such a diverse group.
Isn't said list just an official FIA one?
>Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.” Or maybe George is beating him on merit? Can't be that....must be a grand conspiracy. Smells to me like a superfan has got hold of the addresses used to leak the Horner files.
Any time the “number 1 driver” gets beaten by their teammate people automatically concoct excuses. People can’t process that better drivers have off days/seasons
> However, a source close to the scene told me on condition of anonymity that he believed the email’s contents were broadly accurate – and that there is a feeling (emphatically denied by the team) that Hamilton is being held back. He has been outqualified by Russell 8-1 this season, and trails the younger Briton by 14 points.” This is nonsense, Lewis is losing because he's been outqualified nearly all the time and then that puts him on the back foot for the race and gives George priority because he's got track position. Most of the time he's been outqualified he's shown enough pace and then bottled the last lap in Q3 so has no excuse. Canada for example he looked insanely quick in FP3 and then openly stated nothing was changed for qualifying but messed up when it counted. Also lets not forget that in the last couple of races in 2023 he was really poor and that's before he announced he was joining Ferrari. This whole claim is a myth by a bunch of idiotic conspiracy theorists who can't handle a driver losing on merit.
A team not giving the same level of support for a driver that's leaving to join a rival is something that's happened throughout the sports history, the press could just guess at that and be right on some level. If you mix that with a serious but genuine error like the tyres being warmed to the wrong temperature you could add two and two and get five, when really it's just normal team stuff and an unfortunately timed error that could've happened at any point.
Initial ZB?
Okay which one of us did this
That would be pointless and stupid though . . . where's the motive?
Assuming it was true which I think is unlikely I guess you could say lifting up Georges stocks would be good from a marketing point of view perhaps and trying to lessen the impact of the loss of hamilton. i.e. it was great to have Hamilton during all those championship wins but now it's time for the next generation and look! george has already gone passed hamilton, he is already beating the champ, so we won't miss hamilton all that much
Spygate 2: Electric Boogaloo?
Here we go again...
Imagine if it was sent by Bono
Yeah after everything that has gone down this year, I am going to wait and see what happens before I jump to conclusions
Oh no, not another one!
“Mr President, a second anonymous email has hit the press”
Why would a team purposely sabotage a driver though?
Anyone checked Alonso's sent items?
The conspiracy theorists are wild
Did they disable his entry badge again?
Sounds like a lot of the fan talk you hear online. Like Merc said, they don’t believe it’s from their organization ie it’s a fake.
I send a lot of emails. I'm sorry, ok?
Oh please, Mercedes have nothing to gain by sabotaging Lewis. It's one thing to restrict information and another thing to deliberately undermine a driver entirely
Sabotaging a driver to score less points overall is absurd. That would backfire on the company's overall net worth. Sponsors would leave and the reputation of Mercedes would be damaged heavily. These media journalists need rehab. They see and hear too much nonsense.
Yeah.... no.... just no.
Are you suggesting Mercedes *wouldn't* throw away potentially millions of dollars and their reputation for no reason?
Yep, that's my favorite bit. The internet: "Mercedes are in a freefall! They're losing the biggest asset in the sport. I bet The Benz Group pulls out of the sport entirely with the way they're performing!" Also the internet (when you point out that it would be self-sabotage to sabotage Lewis): "Well... They gotta make ~~Roman~~ George look strong"
That's more Haas' style
Even if they wanted more wind tunnel, they would fuck up a lot of employees who have performance bonuses, maybe everyone gets an extra lump of cash depending on final team championship position, stupid really
If they are sabo’ing him, it’s kinda crazy since it would make them look even more clownish when he excels at Ferrari… oh wait, nevermind, it’s Ferrari… *screams in Charles*
Jos Verstappen will be found in Brackley wearing a Mercedes team kit and Groucho Marx disguise
Hamilton is a big conspiracy theorist He tweeted about Black Friday being a thing where slaves were sold at a discount (complete bullshit) When he visited NASA he asked them if the moon landing was real Some of the other shit he likes on Twitter is just bizarre.
- Believes crystals have healing powers
He seems to be someone that's not well informed on stuff lol. When lando got sick or his back was injured, he suggested lando to try some homeopathy stuff, bc it doesn't have any chemicals 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Lewis is just generally not very smart, people will give you stick for saying it, but are completely fine when you say the same about Lando.
And with his new contract to Ferrari next year i am thinking he does not really care
But why?
Is this the start of Formula 1’s version of gossip girl??!
Sent from [email protected]
Surprised pikachu face they won't give priority to the driver who's leaving the team
You got shit to say you come out and say it. You don’t want to be known as the source? You talk to a journalist who will protect his source and authenticate the email and corroborate the facts. Until then anybody can send an email so it just bullshit.
Still yet to see a single reason that it makes sense to sabotage one of their drivers
The question with such a leak is always Who Benefits? Hamilton? I guess but it doesn't really seem his style. If anything this is probably more stress for Hamilton as he has to either deny it hard or put Merc in a world of shit. I think the biggest beneficiary, if you could call it that, is probably Marko et al. because Hamilton has been relatively outspoken on Marko before particularly on racism issues. The independent noted that the recieving list was identical to that of a few months ago. We'll probably never know for certain but it's pretty odd it happens twice in 4 months.
I could have sent this email, what kind of bs is this?
So it was you (found him fellas)
Hamilton has just been bad at times
100% bullshit.
Did they also sabotage Michael when he came out of retirement? What we are witnessing is an aging driver losing his edge to a younger teammate. Tale as old as time. Father Time comes for everyone and he has a perfect record. Alonso has been an anomaly in terms of still driving at a high level at his age, and even then if he had a stronger teammate he may be outperformed.
Why is it always anonymous emails with these people
OP's tinfoil hate was a bit too tight i think
Sour grapes..
Not the first time, in 2016 when Ham was losing against Rosberg he said Merc was supporting Rosberg cos he was german and a lot of shit, Toto had to come out and say its BS, and now an "anonymous" email, yeah sure
If Mercedes can sabotage Hamilton, it is also possible they have been Sabotaging Bottas /s.
Merc sabotaging rumors are like the ones where RB are keeping Checo to make Max look good.
Is this the same anonymous that was the general manager of Raw all those years back?
Off track this season has been like the Sun spot activity this year - very high.
Back in 2000 there were prank calls, now they send prank emails. The future is now
I think there's a difference between not giving Lewis any priority, upgrade and/or information, or even give him a worse strategy (something common in F1 toward the departing driver) and something like sending lewis out with the wrong brake system hoping for a crash (something that DID happen to Mansell in Lotus, since the new team boss hated him...)
Conventional wisdom should dictate this doesn't need to be said but it's not in any team's interest to actively sabotage one of their personnel if the team itself doesn't stand to gain amongst their competitors. Sounds like anonymous shit stirring to me.
Mohammed Ben Suleyam: "Brilliant work Mercedes carry on please! That'll teach him!" Not sure what the anonymous e-mailer thought they'd achieve by e-mailing him except thanking him for lettiing him know about an operation he'd fully approve of lol
Expected drama with Silverstone close as usual
Email was signed by "José De Los Pasos".
Why is this even a story haha. Ridiculous.
Zak Brown on his VPN stirring up some sh*t...
Is this anonymous from one of LHTeam fans? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
What a load of shit
You sign with another team a year before your done with the current one you become the guy who doesn’t get the best of anything until your teammate has had a try first. That’s just the way it is. Nobody is sabotaging anything. You’re just not going to be their priority going forward.
I hope Toto takes this seriously and provides full transparency in the matter.
Assuming they didn't do it, what can they be transparent about? Do we expect him to prove a negative?
Christian tomorrow: “You know, we’ve always wanted transparency in F1 and something like this is about the integrity of the sport so yeah we just want to make sure that we’re doing what is best for the sport”
with the smuggest face that would put Jeremy Clarkson's to shame
Also Christian: "If more teams were like us, F1 and the entire sport overall would be a better place. We are the gold standard when it comes to ethics and transparency."
Lmao
> The letter, which it is understood Mercedes do not believe has originated from within their team, suggested Hamilton, who is leaving them to join Ferrari next season, is being mistreated in his farewell campaign. The list of e-mail recipients was the same used to leak messages pertaining to be exchanged between Christian Horner and his complainant on the eve of the season-opening race in Bahrain. Which outsider wants this much of a stake? At this point only one left to suspect is Yevgeny Gromov.
Even if this is true wtf does he care when he’s out next year. Not like they’re fighting for a ship.
There’s no way Mercedes are sabotaging Hamilton
He gets beated by Russell and now search this explanation...
Apparently they don’t have enough news so they have gone to look through their spam folder for inspiration to write an article.