Toto Wolff and Co “Sabotaged” Lewis Hamilton, Fans Take Brutal Stance on George Russell’s Canadian GP Podium

“I don’t anticipate being ahead of George [Russell] in qualifying,” said Lewis Hamilton after the Monaco GP qualifying, potentially hinting at some distress within Mercedes. As Lewis Hamilton leaves for Ferrari next year, George Russell has taken over the No. 1 driver role, also being given the preference for upgrades. After Russell took the podium off Hamilton’s hand, fans have come out to slam Toto Wolff and Co. for the Canadian GP strategy.

After a frantic 3 quarters of the race that saw the lead of the race change multiple times between George Russell, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, a second safety car gave Lewis Hamilton in P5 the opportunity to pit and put on fresh rubber. His teammate, George Russell, in P3 did the same. However, Hamilton went onto the hards and Russell went onto the mediums with less than a quarter of the race left.

Listening to the radio, Lewis Hamilton asked Bono if he had any graining on the old mediums and wanted to stay on the faster compound. Peter Bonnington, his race engineer, still suggested that the fresh tires would be faster than the 10 laps old mediums, and Hamilton pitted. At that point, the 7X only had two new pairs of hard tires so that’s what he was put on. 

The safety car came in with Russell P4 and Hamilton P5. Russell made a mistake while overtaking Piastri in P3 that let Hamilton through. Russell eventually overtook Piastri and was then onto Hamilton. Being on the harder tire, Hamilton couldn’t fight his teammate on fresh mediums and was eventually overtaken, and off the podium went the 7X champ. 

While no one knows what the result could’ve been had Hamilton stayed out on the mediums, fans slam Toto Wolff and Co. for pitting the 103-time race winner onto the hard tires.

“Lewis deserved the 3rd place”: Fans furious regarding Mercedes’ tire strategy for Lewis Hamilton

George Russell could’ve probably won the race if he didn’t make the mistake while trying to overtake Oscar Piastri as he had all the pace he needed. Lewis Hamilton would have followed him to a double podium for Mercedes, but the mistake instead invited the two teammates to fight with each other for the final place on the podium. Fans are now critical of Hamilton losing the podium as they commented:

“Merc proving again and again why they don’t deserve Lewis.”

Some fans decided to point out the fact that George Russell made multiple mistakes throughout the race whereas Hamilton gained position and finished as high as he could with the strategy that he was put on.

“Russell podium. But if they didn’t sabotage Lewis he could have even won, we will never know. Russell losing positions and Hamilton gaining positions, as always.”

Many slammed Mercedes for doing Hamilton dirty as they brought up that Hamilton did the right thing by making the Ferrari move. 

“They sabotaged Lewis with a straight face, he is more than right to leave you next season, I feel ashamed for supporting this team.”

Some pointed out how Hamilton deserved the podium and would have attacked Norris in P2 if George Russell would’ve kept calm instead of fighting with his teammate

“Very unfair to Lewis he could’ve got the podium and overtaken lando”

“Lewis deserved The 3rd place”

Other brought up the fact that Russell was able to pass Hamilton only because of the hard tires that the 7X champ was put on by Mercedes, whereas Russell was on the mediums

“Even GR just admitted he only passed Lewis because he was on Hards. What a sabotage AGAIN!”

It is very difficult to judge what could or could not have been if Hamilton did not pit for the new hards later in the race. Regardless, Mercedes with the new front wing seems to be back with the frontrunners as the 2024 season is shaping up to be very interesting.