Wolff, Hamilton, also want ’more exciting races’

Mercedes’ increasing dominance of Formula 1 is now leading to "internet hate".

That is the concerned view of team boss Toto Wolff, who said Sebastian Vettel’s controversial penalty in Canada recently led to a spate of online abuse.

"It’s good to polarise," the Mercedes chief is quoted by Blick newspaper. "You can argue emotionally and heatedly.

"But internet hate sometimes comes to a point where it turns into verbal abuse that becomes personal. That has no place in sport."

The latest problem for Mercedes and F1 was Paul Ricard, where Mercedes won its eighth consecutive grand prix in 2019 in a race that was universally described as boring.

"We would also like to have more exciting races," Wolff admitted.

And Hamilton said of his dominance of uninteresting races: "I don’t enjoy it either."

That could be why the British driver recently travelled to Paris to take part in the FIA’s crisis meeting about the rules reform for 2021.

Ross Brawn, Liberty Media’s F1 sporting director, said the five time world champion has also agreed to take part in a series of forthcoming meetings.

"I’m happy Lewis has confirmed his willingness to make his own contribution in the coming months, and we can’t wait to work with him, particularly in each of the three meetings now scheduled," said Brawn.

But that won’t help for 2019, with Brawn suspecting that Mercedes could wrap up the championship by "Monza, with a third of the season still left".

Brawn said: "We must all understand that the sport we love needs more competition, so that other teams can also aspire to podium finishes and it is not just a few powerful teams that dominate."