Why Would Mercedes Have a Conspiracy to Sabotage Lewis Hamilton?

Lewis Hamilton suffered engine problems in last Sunday's Russian Grand Prix, the second race in a row where a defective energy recovery system (followed by a water-pressure issue in Russia) cost him a chance at victory.

Cars break down all the time in Formula One. They are on the very limit of performance, driving at more than 300 km/h, braking heavily several times per lap and changing gears thousands of times in a two-hour race. Usually, when a driver retires due to a mechanical failure, it is acknowledged as bad luck.

But something weird happened after Hamilton's problem in Russia (which didn't cause him to retire, by the way—he still finished second). People started taking to Twitter to voice their opinions that Mercedes were deliberately sabotaging Hamilton in favour of Nico Rosberg, who has now won seven straight races dating back to last season.

Here is a small sampling from Twitter:

F1 is a sport shrouded in secrecy, as teams are loath to reveal anything that might help their competitors. And, as is often the case in an information vacuum, conspiracy theories are popular in the sport.

But those theories do not usually involve teams sabotaging themselves. And why would they?

Teams are paid based on where they finish in the constructors' championship. Anything that takes points from their drivers—whether it is a mechanical failure, a penalty or a crash—can impact the teams' bottom lines.

The online conspiracy chorus grew loud enough on Sunday that Hamilton, Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff and non-executive chairman Niki Lauda were all asked about it during Sky Sports' broadcast.

"I don't know where the issues are coming from but for sure the team and guys in the background, they need to work hard to try and rectify these," said Hamilton.

"The last thing we would do is sabotage Hamilton—he's a great friend to us," Wolff said before the race. "He's a lovely person within the team and we feel awful because he's not been able to perform the best and we are letting him down."

Lauda, as usual, was more blunt. "This is bulls--t," he said. "I hate these talks because there are 1,100 people who all try to do their best for both cars. Otherwise we would have never got here."

Even those denials were not enough for some, though, and Mercedes released an open letter on Wednesday explaining the situation again.

But even if you don't believe Hamilton and the Mercedes leadership, common sense should tell you that a conspiracy against Hamilton from within the team is not rational.

First, the fact the same issue occurred twice with Hamilton's motor generator unit suggests it is simply a defect with the energy recovery system, rather than a deliberate ploy to slow him down.

Second, if the team wanted to limit Hamilton's points, why would they have chartered a plane to fly a new fuel system from the UK to Sochi, Russia, overnight on Saturday, as Wolff explained, per ESPN F1's Nate Saunders. And the why did they work through the early hours of Sunday morning to get Hamilton's car ready?

Third—and this is just an educated guess—but it wouldn't surprise me if some of the people talking about an anti-Hamilton conspiracy now are the same ones who touted a pro-Hamilton conspiracy at Mercedes in the past (see this from Jonathan Noble, then at Autosport, for an example).

I guess some people just do not understand the nature of sport. Yes, conspiracies and cheating do happen, but not every odd or seemingly unexplainable result is due to a vast, underhanded plot. Sometimes odd things happen—like Leicester City winning the Premier League or Rosberg beating Hamilton seven times in a row.

After all, if you could predict every result before it happened, what would be the point of watching?

Hamilton is a massive star with appeal that transcends the boundaries of his sport into pop culture. If he continues to win, it only helps to further the reach of the Mercedes brand. Deliberately undermining him would not only hurt Mercedes in the short term—unreliability is never a good look for an automaker—but imagine the long-term effects on the company if such a conspiracy ever became public (as these things tend to do).

It is fine for Hamilton fans to be angry or frustrated that their driver is not winning, but accusing his team of deliberately sabotaging him? It just doesn't make any sense.

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