'No point in Mercedes sabotaging their biggest box-office draw'
Monday 3 October 2016 13:54, UK
Any suggestions that Mercedes are conspiring against Lewis Hamilton after another engine failure in Malaysia are 'absurd', according to Monday's papers.
The world champion questioned his team after his blow-out while leading the race, giving conspiracy theorists who believe that Mercedes want Nico Rosberg, now 23 points clear, to win the title, plenty of ammunition.
But Fleet Street, just like Sky F1's Martin Brundle in his latest column, believe there has to be another reason for Hamilton's reliability struggles.
'For all the raw emotion of such a devastating blow, the accusations of deliberate meddling by Mercedes are bordering on absurd,' wrote Daniel Johnson in The Telegraph.
'To design an engine which runs perfectly through practice and qualifying, only to blow up 15 laps from the end of a race, is a feat even the brightest brains in Formula 1 could not manage. There are far more effective means of sabotage; putting excess fuel in the car to slow a driver down, for instance.'
The Times' Kevin Eason agreed, suggesting the furore is similar to what followed after Renault's crash controversy at the 2008 Singapore GP.
'Most of the F1 paddock believe that there is no point in Mercedes sabotaging their biggest box-office draw,' Eason wrote. 'But they are playing to television viewers, who have been through "Spygate" and "Crashgate" - both appalling cheating scandals - in recent years.'
Hamilton's anger immediately after his Sepang retirement was sparked by the belief that he was the only driver facing such problems. Mercedes supply engines not only to their own team but also to Williams, Force India and Manor, and Paul Weaver writes in The Guardian that: 'There have been niggles but no one has suffered like Hamilton.
'For the fourth time this season his race was compromised by technical issues - and that is not counting the bad starts that have also plagued the Englishman this year.'
With just five races, there is still belief that Hamilton can turn the championship around but it is going to take something spectacular to deny his team-mate a maiden title.
'The flame burns bright in Hamilton but there may be too many fires to put out for him to win a fourth title this year,' adds Johnson.
'The Briton is the ultimate Comeback Kid,' pens Eason. 'He has been through horrible disappointments before but the scale of this climb is daunting; effectively, he needs towin all five of the final races, starting in Japan next week.'
And finally, Eason writes: 'Everyone in F1 knows Hamilton is the faster driver by some distance. But he seems destined to lose his title this year - and to a rival whom he has dominated in various arenas for more than 20 years.'
Don't miss the F1 Report for all the reaction and analysis from the Malaysia GP. Former F1 world champion Damon Hill and The Sun's Ben Hunt join Natalie Pinkham in the studio at 8:30pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports F1.
