Mercedes’ Toto Wolff has come out in support of his driver Lewis Hamilton for his recent social media messages.
The British driver has been speaking out his feelings largely on his social channels which has generated headlines in the media – mostly negative. He first used it to accept Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen’s apology for the British GP hit.
At the same time, he also clarified his post-race ‘cheating’ calls on Ferrari, stating that he said those words in the heat of the moment and that he didn’t mean it. He continued with his messages during the Hockenheim weekend as well.
Prior to the race, he talked about booing from the fans on the parade lap while a deleted message after the race had him take up the pundits of Sky Sports F1 channel for downing him all weekend.
When asked about Hamilton’s behaviour, defending his driver, Wolff said: “The most important is that we give everybody his freedom to organise his time the way he feels, or she feels is right. And be non-judgemental. This is how I try to be within the team.
“We’re all different. Lewis is a four-time World Champion. He knows pretty well how to extract the maximum performance out of himself and, in so far, I think whatever he does after the race, whatever he feels like doing, is the right thing for him.
“And, he’s in a good frame of mind. We are all pushing very hard in this championship. The hardest we’ve done in the past because with Red Bull and Ferrari we have two competitors that we recognise as great organisations and in so far, I think his behaviour, the way he deals with it, is very authentic.
“He wears his heart on the sleeve. He gives you guys great content – because it polarises – and for me this is just fine. Positive headlines don’t sell any newspapers and don’t generate any clicks and I think that he is a polarising sportsman that sells papers.
“We could talk about philosophy and the digital revolution and the impact on it for a long time but I just think that in the now and here great achievements are never recognised in the way they should be recognised.
“In five or 10 years we will be looking back and saying we were part of an amazing driver’s journey that will fill books but this is just the way it goes and I think he knows that.”