Red Bull strategist receives hateful abuse after cheating accusations at Dutch Grand Prix

Red Bull strategist receives hateful abuse after cheating accusations at Dutch Grand Prix
Red Bull’s Head of Strategy Hannah Schmitz has received hateful messages online (Photo: Getty) AlphaTauri have denied accusations of cheating at last weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix and have called out the ‘hateful behaviour’ aimed at Red Bull strategist Hannah Schmitz. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed victory at Zandvoort to further extend his championship lead, though benefitted from a bizarre set of circumstances in the final phase of the race. After pitting, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda stopped on track claiming that one of his wheels had not been properly fitted, only for his team to say nothing was wrong and he should keep going.
As he still felt something was strange at the rear of the car, he returned to the pits for a new set of tyres and after a lengthy stop was sent out, only for another car failure to force him to stop out on track again and subsequently retire from the race. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car, which allowed Verstappen to make a free pit-stop for fresh tyres and effectively end Sir Lewis Hamilton’s challenge for the race win. Given that AlphaTauri are Red Bull’s B-team, some disgruntled supporters have made rather baseless accusations that Tsunoda’s incident was manufactured in order to hand Verstappen the win.
This has also led to online abuse being sent to Red Bull’s Head of Strategy Schmitz, the latest high-profile case of hateful messages being directed at a member of the Formula 1 community. Confusion for Yuki Tsunoda as he stops his car claiming he has a loose wheel, his team tell him he DOESN’T and get him to carry on 😕 pic. twitter.
com/xejF1IHEgZ— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 4, 2022 On Monday, AlphaTauri put out an official statement condemning the abuse, saying: ‘It is incredibly disheartening to read some of the language and comments directed at our team and towards Red Bull Racing’s Head of Strategy, Hannah Schmitz. ‘Such hateful behaviour cannot be tolerated, and to entertain accusations of foul play is unacceptable, untrue and completely disrespectful towards both Hannah and us. ‘We have always competed independently, fairly and with the highest levels of respect and sportsmanship.
‘Yuki had a failure that the team didn’t immediately detect which caused him to stop on track. pic. twitter.
com/mHNGUA9Pz3— Scuderia AlphaTauri (@AlphaTauriF1) September 5, 2022 ‘To suggest anything different is insulting and categorically incorrect. ’ While Mercedes boss Toto Wolff did not suggest that Red Bull and AlphaTauri had manufactured the VSC, he did call for the incident to be fully investigated given the safety concerns around a car stopping and restarting on track. ‘If we were fighting for a championship, this would be something I would closely look at,’ Wolff said post-race.
‘That probably changed the outcome of a race we maybe could have won. The simulation said Max would have come out eight seconds behind us and we would have had a fair shot, and the race planner said the win was on. David Beckham takes on new role ahead of World Cup in Qatar to share best tourist tipsBritish Typhoon fighter jets to help guard Qatar World CupPhilipp Lahm to boycott FIFA World Cup in Qatar over human rights abuses ‘Now, I think what needs to be investigated for the safety of drivers and everybody out there.
‘The driver stopped, unbuckled, did a full lap, came in, the problem wasn’t solved, they put the seatbelts back on and he drove out and stopped the car again. ’ Tsunoda has since been given 10-place grid penalty for the next race in Italy this weekend, for driving with loose seatbelts. MORE : Lewis Hamilton apologises for foul-mouthed rant at Mercedes team MORE : Ferrari boss hits back at Nico Rosberg and won’t change staff despite dreadful F1 strategy blunders For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. .