Nico Rosberg has been flawless in the Formula One circuit this season, and delivered the goods once again, winning the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday. But the story is different for his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who finished second on Sunday, but has failed to shine, owing largely to mechanical failures.
Hamilton might have romped to the title last season, but the Brit's car has faced engine failures in the last two races -- the Chinese and Russian Grand Prix -- which has led to conspiracy theories, suggesting that the team wants Rosberg to win the title.
In the first four races of the season, Rosberg crossed the chequered flag first, while Hamilton finished second (Australia), third (Bahrain), seventh (China) and second (Russia). The British driver has not been able to defeat Rosberg so far.
However, the team's executive director, Toto Wolff is not pleased with the online murmurings of a conspiracy against Hamilton.
"I'm not going to respond to every lunatic that sends a message. Some of them are abusing the team and abusing members of the team and I would never allow that," The Guardian quoted Wolff as saying.
"The last thing we would do is sabotage Lewis Hamilton. He's a great friend to us. We feel awful because he's not been able to perform the best and we are letting him down."
There was no question of Hamilton's driving ability on Sunday, as the champion came from tenth place to finish in second position, with a possible first taken away from him after being told to ease off owing to a water pressure problem.
Some crew members of Hamilton's car were shifted to Rosberg, and vice versa, before the start of this season, which might have further led to controversial theories. But Hamilton was quick to nip any such talk in the bud.
"I'm really proud of my guys, the guys on my side of the garage are having a hard time at the moment," Hamilton said.
"Since I joined this team I had a group of guys and for no particular reason it was swapped and those guys have come over and now we have had some bad experiences and I imagine they are feeling the pressure but it's nothing to do with them."
Hamilton can put all such theories to rest if he manages to win the next F1 race – Spanish Grand Prix -- and put forward a stiff challenge to Rosberg, who has looked in a league of his own this season. The German has not been in amazing form this year alone, with his succession of wins starting from late last year, where he won the last three races of season.
