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Subject: About the comments on the situation that occurred on Saturday.
from: [email protected]
Dear Max Emilian, as my co-worker for several years now, you should easily understand the reason for the mail you are receiving today. During repeated occasions, not only during this season, I have been subjected to unevidenced accusations by you through the statements that you very kindly provide to the media. However, I find that the words expressed by you on Saturday, June 22 (yesterday) have reached a limit that is not permissible. I understand the frustration you must have felt when in the last minutes your fast lap was thwarted, however the lack of preparation of your team and your inability both yours to listen and theirs to communicate the situation on the track are not situations that are in my power. So I urge you to cease this type of statements once the FIA has conducted its investigation and found neither myself nor my team to be at fault or that the actions taken by myself (the ones you protest so much in front of the media) were responsible for the loss of those precious seconds that you can't seem to find for the last couple of corners. I ask you not to contribute to the creation of a hostile work environment (more so than it already is by its very nature) and to avoid creating the need for me to go out and talk to the media in the same way.
With nothing more to say.
Lewis Hamilton.
Driver.
Sent June 23, 2024. 22:34:15.
RE: About the comments on the situation that occurred on Saturday.
from: [email protected]
The events of Saturday have been of my utter displeasure and while I can understand that the relevant investigations have been carried out and found nothing wrong with your actions and those of your team, I am also within my rights to reject the results especially as the FIA has not previously been a body of complete integrity and tends to favor certain individuals within the paddock. My comments given to the media are no different to the many that in past seasons I have expressed out loud nor do they differ from comments that you yourself have made in previous years, so the accusations against me that involve fostering hostility within our work are unfounded; as a precautionary measure it would be helpful if you would review past interviews of other drivers including your teammates so that you can take a broad view and stop pointing fingers at individuals as the only culprits. To make this easier for you I have attached a link to a playlist where you will find these recordings: you.tube.com/compilation-interviews-negative-comments
I hope the next race will be as much fun as this one.
Max Verstappen.
Three-time world champion.
P.s. What the hell Lewis?
Sent June 23, 2024. 23:26:30.
RE: About the comments on the situation that occurred on Saturday.
from: [email protected]
Mr. Verstappen, the playlist has been of moderate help and does not cover the bases of my concerns at all. While it is true that the environment in which we work almost every week has a competitive and aggressive behavior by nature, the hostility perceived especially in recent years is a consequence of comments made in specific situations where not only the integrity of the FIA is questioned but also the integrity of the drivers themselves. From the videos you have very kindly compiled I have taken the liberty of classifying the comments made into three different categories: 1. comments admitting responsibility, 2. comments subtly blaming the same or another team and 3. comments blaming another driver/team (I attach the document at the end of the mail) with the result that of all the interactions presented and catalogued, 70% of the drivers oscillate between category 1 and 2, while the remaining 30% oscillate between category 2 and 3, the latter having a sporadic incidence except for you and two others involved, so if I were you I would try to review better the content presented.
Likewise you do not need to clarify the point of favoritism present in the FIA when the incident in the last race of the 2021 season is still a —in your own words— sensitive issue and that my complaints about such events only reflect my inability to accept defeat; even though the actions and decisions taken leave much to be desired in terms of following the rules. I strongly urge you to think better of your words before blaming third parties in situations that only concern you and your team.
commentsclasifications.pdf
Lewis Hamilton.
The EIGHT times Champion of the World.
Sent June 24 2024. 00:07:45.
RE: About the comments on the situation that occurred on Saturday.
from: [email protected]
I do not appreciate the comments written in your last email and in no way will I contain my words the next time I find myself in front of the media that ask (voluntarily and for their own benefit) to listen to my comments about certain situations that occurred both on and off the track.
Past events such as the last race of the 2021 season are in the past and while the investigations have been mostly poor by what seems to be your standards, the points and the championship has been ratified so stirring the waters around that situation is a futile effort that benefits no one. I would suggest that you better concentrate your energies on improving your times and helping your team find out why their car doesn't seem to be working.
Max Verstappen.
Current Champion.
P.s Did you really make a chart? Don't you have something better to do? Sleep, for example?
Sent June 24, 2024. 00:12:33.