Is Mercedes fixing the 2016 driver chamionship

[Nitrodaze]

To be frank, all drivers in at least the top three team plus Mclaren drivers obviously would easily win the driver championship with the Mercedes W07 car. Mercedes the car manufacturers do not need to use underhand tactics to have someone else other than Hamilton win the championship. However, such a statement does not exclude persons operating within the Mercedes F1 circle with their own personal agenda from attempting to bring about this outcome.

The problem with the current situation with Hamilton is, there is a pattern here that goes back to 2014. Hence it sort of makes it abit hard to accept the conclusion that it is just simply bad luck. In a pool of the same equipment, you would expect this sort of thing to have a random pattern across the equipments in the pool. When you begin to see concentration of anomaly mainly on one particular member in the pool, then statistically you would begin to think that it is not random enough for the incident to be classed as bad luck. It more plausibly begins to look like deterministic factors bringing about the concentration of the defect on the single equipment.

The Hamilton situation is an embarrassment for Mercedes, as their engine is blowing up on the car of the driver with the most international media appeal. Every media channel would have pictures, videos and commentary of the Mercedes engine blowing up and a string of engine problem bedogging the current world champion. Hence, it is real bad news for Mercedes whichever way you look at it.

That does not eliminate the fact that there may be something amis going on inside the Mercedes camp for reasons that does not take into consideration the effect on the Mercedes brand. The Mercedes F1 team may attempt to explain these incidents as bad luck, but they are increasing becoming quite unbelievable. Hence the pressure is on the team to find out what is amis and fix it. Because the next failure, which l feel is very likely to occur before the end of the season, would most likely be very damaging in a number of ways.

For a start many would have on the back of their mind that Mercedes have fixed the 2016 driver world championship outcome. This would not be good for Rosberg, as he would not get the respect that he deserves for winning the 2016 championship if he manages to pull it off. There always would be talk of Mercedes dodgy dealings that assisted him in beating Hamilton. Both of these things may not be the case, but people would think it.

[AndyL]

If there is a pattern, it seems to me it goes back further than 2014.

[Jag_Warrior]

Actually, according to a study done by F1 Fanatic, Hamilton has had the best reliability rate of any driver who has won the WDC. In their study, reliability was defined as a mechanical or technical failure, which led to a DNF during a race. It did not include things like engine or gearbox changes in pre-race sessions, which led to grid penalties.

It may come as some consolation to Hamilton to learn that he has had the most reliable cars during his career out of all of Formula One’s 32 world champions. Sunday’s DNF was the 11th time in his 183 starts so far that he has not been classified due to a technical problem. That’s a failure rate of just 6%. The driver with the next-lowest failure rate is Sebastian Vettel on 8.7%. The other three world champions on the grid are Fernando Alonso (10.1%), Jenson Button (11.3%) and Kimi Raikkonen (13%).

[Nitrodaze]

Mercedes has found that the big end of the piston rod is what failed and caused the explosion in Hamilton's car. That looks like a very hard thing to mess with but not entirely impossible. But it sort of puts paid to the conspiracy theory that Mercedes was fixing the driver championship. At least until another smart person on this forum come up with a fantastic reason to say otherwise.

Bad luck is more ugly when things seem a foregone conclusion. Lets hope that there are no more Mercedes engine failures, so that we can see a proper wheel to wheel fight for the championship through the rest of the season. That said, l am very sure Redbull will disagree with me on the reliability aspect aforementioned. It was great to see a Redbull one two at Malaysia.

I have to say Toto Wolff earned alot of my respect for how he has handled the situation. It would have been easier and expected for him and Mercedes to go on the defensive and openly admonish Hamilton for his antics. But they shared in his disappointment and empathized with the luckless world champion. A strange incident as this typically places the entire personnel of the team at the grand prix under the microscope. Hence, l have to say, Mercedes has demonstrated an exemplary control of the situation. Certainly something to learn from in ones everyday dealings. Restraint and a measured response is a perfect demonstration of sophistication and maturity. I raise my hat :-)

[AndyL]

Mercedes has found that the big end of the piston rod is what failed and caused the explosion in Hamilton's car. That looks like a very hard thing to mess with but not entirely impossible. But it sort of puts paid to the conspiracy theory that Mercedes was fixing the driver championship. At least until another smart person on this forum come up with a fantastic reason to say otherwise.

According to James Allen: "a big-end bearing failed, which came after the engine lost oil pressure as he went through the track’s final corner." So they're not really telling us the cause of the problem. With no lubrication, bearing failure is to be expected. But what caused the loss of oil pressure?

A little bit more from Autosport:

"As a precaution, Mercedes is introducing revised running parameters for the works team, as well as customers [...] Those parameters will include, but are not limited to, a different and more conservative oil specification."

[Bagwan]

Hamilton got it very wrong here .

Lewis called it something or someone against him , insinuating some underhandedness .
He then backtracked , explaining his outburst by saying he was being tested by a higher power .

But , given that Merc has explained (in part) the failure , and have said they have no explanation other than bad luck , they clearly do not believe the religious reasoning for the conspiratorial accusation .

To question the intelligence of anyone who would think about it having been sabotage should , I think , be read as a relatively direct statement to Lewis , himself .
Certainly , others would have come up with the thought by themselves , but when Hamilton , himself , came out with it , it was a fan on stupid flames when they had only just put out the car .

When the tough moment came , he threw them under the bus .
Bad time of the year to be doing this kind of thing .

[Bagwan]

Oh dear .
Melt down in the presser .

Lewis has proclaimed there will be no more news .
Bunnygate fallout .

[Tazio]

If Nico goes on and wins this thing it will be interesting to see the many manifestations of the Boss' meltdown!

[Bagwan]

If Nico goes on and wins this thing it will be interesting to see the many manifestations of the Boss' meltdown!

The first corner may be a desperate place tomorrow .

Will Merc get to celebrate the constructors championship ?
Maybe . Maybe not .

[Big Ben]

I think Mercedes should send this guy packing. Half of the grid could have won those titles in that car. They can easily manage without him. And I doubt people are buying Mercedes cars because of this moron.