Lewis Hamilton travelled all the way to Baku for the FIA gala, to pick up his prize for P3 in the 2023 F1 Championship.
Mercedes has denied claims that Lewis Hamilton misplaced the official 2023 championship trophy at the FIA awards ceremony in Baku before giving it to a fan.
Hamilton finished third in the world championship for the first time in his career and attended the ceremony where Max Verstappen and Red Bull officially crowned him world champion along with other FIA title winners including Formula E and the World Rally Championship.
However, the ceremony was controversial, with the FIA following up on media claims that Mercedes coach Toto Wolff and F1 Academy director Susie Wolff were in a secret relationship and had been sharing information with each other.
This was carried out a few days after the investigation into him was suspended. This led to all nine other teams issuing statements in support of Susie Wolff, with Wolff “deeply offended” by the claims, while Mercedes is pursuing aggressive legal action with F1’s governing body over the situation.
We are proceeding with the procedure. Hamilton criticized the FIA as “unacceptable” and left his P3 trophy behind after the official ceremony. The fan claimed to have received the trophy from the 103-time race winner.
However, a Mercedes spokesperson confirmed to the media that Hamilton had accepted an offer from the FIA to ensure the trophy “passed on to the team” and had therefore entrusted it to the team.
We can confirm he did not give the trophy to anyone ‘as a gift’ as has been speculated.”
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