Sky F1’s Jenson Button has insisted that “no team” would want any of their drivers to be slow in reaction to online conspiracy theories surrounding Mercedes’ treatment of Lewis Hamilton in F1 2024.

Hamilton announced earlier this year that he will join Ferrari on a multi-year contract from the F1 2025 season, ending his long and successful association with Mercedes.

Jenson Button shuts down Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes conspiracy theory

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

The British driver has claimed six of his joint-record seven World Championships with Mercedes, as well as becoming the first man to surpass 100 grand prix victories and pole positions, since arriving from McLaren at the start of 2013.

With Hamilton’s move to Ferrari confirmed in February, it has created the unusual situation of the 39-year-old spending the entirety of F1 2024 with Mercedes in the knowledge that they will part ways at the end of the season, which concludes with this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Despite returning to winning ways in F1 2024 with victories at Silverstone and Spa, Hamilton has struggled in qualifying conditions this season with Russell ahead at 18 of the 23 races.

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Hamilton’s season slumped to a new low in Qatar last weekend as he incurred two separate penalties for a false start and speeding in the pit lane, with the seven-time World Champion heard pleading to withdraw from the race over team radio.

His poor performances have raised suspicions online that Hamilton has been frozen out by Mercedes in F1 2024, with Russell starting from pole position at the last two rounds.

Appearing in his capacity as a Sky F1 pundit in Qatar, 2009 World Champion Button, who partnered Hamilton at McLaren for three seasons between 2010 and 2012, insisted that no team on the grid would deliberately compromise their own driver.

And he insisted that the same applies at Red Bull, where Sergio Perez sits seven places and 277 points behind World Champion team-mate Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings.

He said: “Just so the fans know, no team wants any of their drivers to be slow. Never want them to be slow.

“So, just so you know, Lewis Hamilton will be getting the same equipment.

“Sometimes teams will have a slight upgrade that goes on one car [over] the other, especially for the driver that’s staying.

“It’s the same for Checo Perez as well. They want them to be quick.”

Button’s comments come after Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, described fans who circulate conspiracy theories about the team’s treatment of Hamilton in F1 2024 as “idiots.”

He told media including PlanetF1.com in Qatar: “I’ve never read comments. I just hear that this nonsense appears.

“You can talk at length about the toxic environment of social media, but I’ve always said it: you hide yourself behind a screen, you open up an account and then you put these comments. I wonder who would even have the time to comment.

“We love our fans, they contribute to what we are. And the other ones who believe that they need to create some crazy, made-up conspiracies, it doesn’t even bother me. They’re just idiots.

“They have no understanding. Probably never put a foot near a racing car, maybe not even a normal car.

“You need to show me some of that stuff, just for me to have a laugh.

“My message to the ones that feel free to give us their comments: nobody’s reading what you write.

“Ten years ago, I was really upset about what somebody wrote and I was walking on the street with Susie [Wolff, wife]. And there was this rather not-decent person that was coming towards us and she said: ‘Would you consider this person’s opinion?’

“And I said: ‘No, why would I? That could be the person that has just wrote the comment.’

“So you’re hiding behind your screen somewhere over the mountains and you feel you want to make a comment. Wonderful.

“You’re writing it for yourself anyway and for the few other lunatics that want to engage with you.”

PlanetF1.com revealed earlier this year that Hamilton will not be released early from his Mercedes contract to represent Ferrari in next week’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi, with the team planning a variety of farewell events with the seven-time World Champion before the end of the year.

Wolff confirmed on Tuesday that Hamilton is set to visit Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia and home of Mercedes title sponsors Petronas, in the aftermath of the Abu Dhabi GP, and Mercedes’ HQ in Stuttgart, Germany.

Hamilton is also poised to bid farewell to the Mercedes F1 workforce at the team’s Brackley-based factory, as well as the staff at the High Performance Powertrains engine division in Brixworth.

Mercedes have the distinction of providing the engines for each of Hamilton’s 355 F1 starts to date, stretching back to his debut season with McLaren in 2007.

Reports in Italy last month claimed that Hamilton is not scheduled to arrive at Ferrari until late January, with his first day at Maranello set to be documented by the team.

Hamilton’s early preparations are set to include a brief run at Ferrari’s test track of Fiorano, with the team reportedly yet to determine whether this will be in the 2022 or 2023 car.

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