"They are lying and trying to cover their tracks": Fans react to Mercedes director dismissing claims of Lewis Hamilton being disadvantaged at the team

F1 fans recently reacted to Mercedes' technical director James Allison dismissing claims that Lewis Hamilton was at a disadvantage with the team. He claimed that both the Mercedes W15s were identical.

Ahead of the 2024 F1 season, Ferrari announced that Hamilton would join them in 2025, leaving Mercedes after 12 years. At Monaco GP, Hamilton stated that he did not believe he could out-qualify George Russell in the 2024 F1 season. Since then, rumors emerged that the team was not giving the seven-time world champion equal priority.

Though Lewis Hamilton was upbeat going into the Canadian GP, he struggled during qualifying and only secured P7. After the race, Hamilton revealed that, for some unknown reason, his tires were a few degrees colder than the optimal operating window. This further sparked rumors and controversy regarding him being sabotaged by Mercedes.

Speaking to Beyond the Grid podcast, James Allison admitted that the qualifying stats between the two Mercedes drivers depict that Hamilton won't bag too many poles in 2024. However, he dismissed the rumors that the team was purposely putting the 39-year-old at a disadvantage during qualifying sessions.

He added that both Russell and Hamilton's cars were identical and the only difference they could have was the setup. He also pointed out that Hamilton told Mercedes to give the new front wing to Russell during the Monaco GP, which gave the latter the edge in qualifying.

Several fans were unimpressed by Allison's explanation. One claimed that he was "lying" to cover Mercedes' plans. Another fan explained that Allison would not throw Mercedes under the bus and openly say that the team was sabotaging Lewis Hamilton.

"They are lying and trying to cover their tracks and it’s pathetic," one fan said.

"Well am not saying Lewis is wrong or Allison is wrong but did you guys expect Allison to admit that Mercedes are sabotaging him it funny just like ETH saying Manchester city is the best club in England," another chimed in.

Few fans pointed out how the Mercedes' technical director did not mention the tire temperature mishap that Lewis Hamilton stated after the Canadian GP. On the other hand, one fan supported Allison's statement and wrote that Hamilton himself stated that he needed to improve.

"Interesting that he avoids mentioning tyre blanket temps though in his clarification of what they have the same in qualifying," a fan pointed out.

"Didn’t mention tire temps once in the denial," another wrote.

"James is honest as Lewis was honest that he need to improve unfortunately on this app that isn't the case with the kids that want to run their agenda," a user argued.

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James Allison claims Mercedes cars are identical amid rumors about Lewis Hamilton being sabotaged during qualifying

James Allison recently dismissed rumors about Mercedes disrupting Lewis Hamilton's qualifying sessions. He talked about both cars being identical in terms of engine and aerodynamics.

Ever since Hamilton hinted that he won't be able to out-qualify Russell in 2024, many discussed whether Mercedes were intentionally prioritizing one driver over another. At Monaco and Canadian GPs, Hamilton was below Russell in the starting grid, which further fueled the rumors.

Speaking to Beyond the Grid podcast, the team's technical director James Allison claimed:

“I think that if you try and read into that stuff that isn't there, like there's somehow he's got a systematic disadvantage on qualifying day, that's not true and not fair. So far as we can make it, the cars are identical.”

“The engine use is identical. If the cars are different on setup, it's because that's what the driving engineering team on either side of the garage have iterated to, but they have the chance to have identical stuff if they chose,” he added.

After the Canadian GP, Lewis Hamilton stands in eighth place with 55 points, while George Russell is in seventh with 69 points.