“Lewis Deserves a Little Bit More Respect”: After Numerous Failed Promises, Toto Wolff’s Disrespectful Treatment of Hamilton Induces Scathing Criticism

The Austrian GP race was a rather tough one for Lewis Hamilton. After a good start from P5, he overtook compatriot Lando Norris to secure P4. But that overtake cost him, as having Lando Norris trailing him turned out to be worse. While driving behind Hamilton, Norris had voluntarily taken up the role of a steward. He constantly kept pointing out on the team radio that Hamilton was exceeding track limits. But later, when Hamilton started doing it for other drivers, Toto Wolff disrespectfully shut him up. And that did not fare well for Wolff.

For the 7-time champion, it was not just the race but the entire weekend that was a bust because of a slow W14. So, he completely lost it when he was given a 5-second penalty for exceeding track limits. After that, he sounded agitated throughout the rest of the race. But when he constantly kept complaining about the car ahead of him (Sergio Perez) not being reprimanded, Wolff said, “Lewis the car is bad we know, please drive it.” Along with a lot of fans, even Peter Windsor was disapproving of that radio message.

In a YouTube video, Windsor said, “There was a comment there from Toto Wolff, two-thirds of the way through the race, which to me left a little bit of a bad taste in the mouth. Because it was again Lewis going on about track limits. He (Wolff) actually said, ‘Yes Lewis, we know the car is bad. Get on and drive the race please’. To speak to Lewis like that – ‘Get on and race’… this guy’s a seven-times world champion. He does kind of deserve a little bit more respect than that. And I just felt a little bit uneasy hearing that.”

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After hearing this seemingly aggressive from Wolff, you might have wondered if Hamilton’s contract might be affected by it. Wolff addressed the same topic after the race.

Toto Wolff Gives Vague Update On Lewis Hamilton’s Contract Renewal

After the race, Wolff was asked about such an unusual radio message. In reply, he said that the only reason he said that was to calm Hamilton and nothing else. Putting the speculations over the contract renewal into perspective, he said that there is no connection between the two. He also gave a somewhat vague update on the contract talks.

Wolff said, as quoted by Sky Sports, “This is not a money discussion at all. It is about the future, what is it that we want to do right and optimise? We’re not talking anything anymore about duration, money, all of that, it’s other topics.” And commenting on the duration, he said, “For a while. The Brits say a couple means two, and the Americans say a couple means a few, so it is somewhere there.”

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Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have become very good friends over the years. But speaking in such a disrespectful tone to the racer who has contributed to bringing the 7 Constructors Championship to Mercedes might not be healthy for their relationship.