Following yet another issue for Lewis Hamilton which was out of his own control during qualifying for this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, I see endless comments on the Mercedes Facebook and Twitter pages claiming that they are sabotaging Hamilton’s car. To think that some poor soul has to deal with replying to these silly comments… Now anybody with two brain cells would immediately brush any thought like this to one side, but there are a few who do not, and I will explain why Mercedes would never do such a thing so stupid. This is not a rant at Hamilton fans in general, but the select few who ruin this fantastic 2014 season for the majority. All sports stars at the highest level have fans who ‘have a screw loose’, not just Hamilton, and this occurs in every single sport, not just Formula One.
Mercedes need to win the World Constructors’ Championship
Mercedes have spent a lot of money since returning to Formula One as a works team in 2010, bringing in some massive names from other teams as well as the legendary Michael Schumacher to partner Nico Rosberg. They were fourth, fourth and fifth in 2010, 11 and 12 respectively which is not bad, but is probably worth much less compared to what they were spending. To win the World Constructors’ Championship will do brilliantly for Mercedes’ finances, and sabotaging one car could cost the chance of winning that, which could see rivals Red Bull, Ferrari or Williams taking that honour (and money) from that team. They also want to win the World Drivers’ Championship, but I don’t think that they really care which driver wins it, provided that there is no malice in doing so.
‘Mercedes want Rosberg to win because they’re German and Rosberg’s German’
The Mercedes team is based in Brackley, which is in the United Kingdom. It is fronted by Toto Wolff (Austrian), Paddy Lowe (British), Bob Bell (British), Jock Clear (British), Nick Fry until the end of 2013 (British), Aldo Costa (Italian), Niki Lauda (Austrian), James Vowles (British) and Geoff Willis (British). That isn’t forgetting all of the people at Brackley who range in nationalities. Nico Rosberg ‘isn’t really German’ also, as Hamilton joked earlier in the season. I think we have cleared that one up.
‘Rosberg only wins when he’s lucky or when he cheats’
Yes, Nico Rosberg has had a lot of luck this season, and yes, what happened at Monaco was questionable, but never would Rosberg cheat his way into a pole position. He has never done such a move before, and it is not in neither his, nor his father’s mentality to do so either. Keke Rosberg was notably furious with Michael Schumacher following Rascasse-gate in 2006. Rosberg has seven wins to his name so far, and is likely going to make it eight tomorrow. He has inherited some of those wins, but he has driven very well to earn the rest. In China, back in 2012, he beat Michael Schumacher on merit on a day when the Mercedes was strong to take his first win. In Monaco in 2013, he took pole position from Hamilton and beat him fair and square in the race. He arguably inherited the wins at Silverstone and at Melbourne in 2014, but his victories in Monaco and in Austria were very strong, especially the latter where he also held off the very rapid Valtteri Bottas. He arguably inherited the win in Germany too, but at the end of the day, he did have to drive the thing too, as he has done on every single occasion.
If Mercedes were desperate for Rosberg to win, they wouldn’t have hired Hamilton
Now ask yourself this if you are still unsure, why would Mercedes spend $60million on Lewis Hamilton just to sabotage his car when they could have easily have spent far less on somebody who would have played a good support role to Rosberg, such as fellow German Adrian Sutil? It simply doesn’t make any sense at all.
Bahrain battle makes Mercedes looks good, Hungary fires do not
When you go out to purchase a car, the first thing you look for is reliability. The classic phrase ‘win on Sunday, sell on Monday’ applies to the Le Mans 24 Hours because it is the toughest test on cars. Having the two drivers battle as they did in Bahrain to the bitter end of the race under the floodlights would have done absolute wonders for the sale of Mercedes cars, as if you buy a Mercedes, you could pretend that you’re Nico Rosberg or Lewis Hamilton and duel like that (on a racetrack obviously, not a public road). The last thing that you would want to see would be a Mercedes on fire or the brakes failing if you are planning to purchase a Mercedes anytime soon.
Luck has always played a part in F1
It doesn’t matter who you are, you need a bit of luck to win the title in F1. Be it suddenly joining a team as they suddenly find form, or inheriting points through the troubles of others. Fernando Alonso inherited the race lead and arguably the World Championship in 2006 after Michael Schumacher’s engine blew up while he was leading at Suzuka, the first time a Ferrari engine had blown for a very, very long time. Take the 1985 season for example. Alain Prost scored 73 points and took the title, while fellow great Niki Lauda scored just 14. Lauda was not helped by an injury and endless retirements through no fault of his own. Should Lauda had better luck, he could have won the title that year, but nonetheless, Alain Prost was a worthy champion that year. Should Hamilton fail to win the championship this year due to luck, that doesn’t take anything away from Rosberg at all, he is a fantastic driver and there is absolutely no questioning that.
Rosberg still has more DNFs through no fault of his own
Nico Rosberg has retired from the 2013 Australian, Chinese and Hungarian Grand Prix and the 2014 British Grand Prix through no fault of his own. Lewis Hamilton has retired from the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix and the 2014 Australian and Canadian Grand Prix through no fault of his own. So statistically, Hamilton has had better reliability in the races during the year and a half as team mates so far.
To conclude, these ‘fans’ who come up with these stupid theories are no better than the Kimi Raikkonen ‘fans’ who were sending death threats to the Lotus F1 Team following last year’s Indian Grand Prix where Raikkonen’s race engineer swore at him, nor are they better than the Sebastian Vettel or the Fernando Alonso ‘fans’ who send abusive messages to other fans for no reason whatsoever.
Ultimately, the majority of Formula One fans are wonderful, and hugely knowledgeable, and that goes for fans of all drivers and all teams, but there are a select few, who come out in force whenever something doesn’t go to the way of their driver who ruins it for the vast majority, and in my eyes, that is pretty shameful.
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