Mercedes deny favouring Nico Rosberg over Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes have rejected accusations that they are favouring Nico Rosberg over Lewis Hamilton this season.

In an open letter to fans posted on their website, the team address "the haters, the naysayers and the conspirators" following criticism on social media.

Mercedes also say it was a "miracle" Hamilton's car finished Sunday's Russian Grand Prix as the engine had zero water pressure for the last 16 laps.

They admit they have "not met our own expectations on reliability" in 2016.

The letter comes in the wake of four troubled races for Hamilton at the start of this season that have left him trailing Rosberg in the championship by 43 points - the equivalent of win and a second place.

And the problems have left the world champion exposed to the likelihood of further difficulties later in the season.

The engine problems suffered by Hamilton mean he is likely to have to take grid penalties for using more than the permitted number of parts at some stage.

But the letter amounts to an impassioned plea to fans who have accused the team of trying to engineer a championship for Rosberg to reconsider.

"Performance-wise we are right on the money," the letter says, "but there is work to be done. Our goal is not simply to be fast but bulletproof, too. Not just to manage the problems but to understand them, fix them and ensure they are not repeated.

"We are working tirelessly to do just that and will continue to do so every step of the way.

"But there are no guarantees. This is a mechanical sport, balancing on the knife-edge of performance and endurance. You have to push the boundaries and failures can happen."

Mercedes say the entire team is "baffled and gutted" at the fact that Hamilton has suffered identical failures in his engine's hybrid system in the last two qualifying sessions in China and Russia.

But they add that they made a "monumental effort" to fly spare parts out to Russia overnight so Hamilton could start from 10th on the grid rather than the pit lane.

The letter explains in detail the engine problems both cars suffered in the race on the way to their one-two finish.

It said they saw "some alarming behaviour" from Rosberg's MGU-K - the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the rear axle - shortly after his pit stop.

"We spent a number of laps reassuring him that he had a good gap over Lewis and could ease off before the FIA gave us the all-clear to tell him to switch to a setting that would control the issue".

Hamilton's water-pressure issue, they said, arose shortly after this at a time the Briton was setting fastest laps and closing on Rosberg.

"We needed to await confirmation from the FIA of what we could tell him over the radio (as a result of this season's restrictions on communication between team and driver)," the letter said.

It said that, with no water pressure for what amounted to nearly a quarter of the race, "the job he did to nurse the car home and still retain second place was truly remarkable", adding: "We genuinely aren't sure by what miracle the car limped across the line."

Lewis Hamilton: I won't over-stay my welcome in Formula One

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton insists he will not out-stay his welcome in the sport.

The 31-year-old has admitted on the eve of the new season that he does not see himself still doing what he is doing in a decade's time, and will eventually step aside to allow new talent to live the dream which has brought him three world titles to date.

Asked if he would continue for another 10 years, the Brit told BBC Radio 5 Live's Sportsweek programme: "I don't have plans to go that long, but I love what I do.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says he will not out-stay his welcome in Formula One

"Honestly, it could be less, it could be more, who knows? Really as long as I keep enjoying it....

"There are only 22 of us that do it. Michael Schumacher potentially stayed maybe a little bit too long. When one driver stays, that means there's one less opportunity for others who might just be in the right moment to be able to step through.

"Every year I stay beyond, you over-stay your welcome because perhaps you are blocking the potential of another kid who was just ready to come through, so I want to be cautious of that.

"But as long as I am enjoying it and performing at my best, then I'll keep going. But I was thinking this morning, I feel like I can go on and on and on, personally.

"Hopefully within 10 years, and then I am going to move on and do something else and let someone else come and do it."

Mercedes driver Hamilton will set off in pursuit of a third successive championship success in Melbourne next week, and he will do so taking nothing for granted.

He said: "Coming into this year, I really feel like it's a clean slate. When I arrive at the track, I don't feel like I'm world champion - that's why I have number 44 on my car and not number one.

"I'm 44, the same as I was when I first started racing. I was here to beat everyone and that's how I'm going into the first race."

Lewis Hamilton the party animal still has the hunter’s instinct and glamour on the track

David Coulthard might have forgotten what it is to be young. Having kids does that to you. If memory serves, DC, as he is universally known in the paddock, indulged the hedonistic tendency with a fair degree of enthusiasm in his pomp, as you might expect of a square-jawed, multi-millionaire Lothario living in Monaco.

His thoughtful concern over the gadding about of Lewis Hamilton was a fair riff in his new role as Channel 4 pundit, but places him firmly in the pipe-and-slippers demographic. 

According to DC, Hamilton’s pop-star lifestyle off the pitch, which regularly sees him slipping the lid on backwards in the VIP salons of New York and LA alongside an adhesive member of the opposite sex, presents a clear risk to performance. Calm down, Pops, says the look in Hamilton’s eyes.

To be fair to DC, he recognised the weakness in the argument when pointing out the professional bling on Hamilton’s CV: three world titles, two of which had been claimed successively in the past two seasons while stepping straight from dancefloor to grid. Nico Rosberg submits to the lifestyle Coulthard advocates, returning between races to the Monaco home he shares with his wife and daughter. Thus far there has been only one winner.

OK, Rosberg’s conversion to a state of paternal bliss is a recent development and, some will point out, coincided with a sharp upswing in form. This is true. Rosberg snared pole at the last six races of the 2015 season, and raced to victory in the final three Grands Prix. It is only when we douse the period in context that the facts lose a little of their gloss.

Each of those victories came after Hamilton had won the drivers’ championship in the United States, and the run of poles in a period when Hamilton was racing circumstance as much as his rivals.

It is the most beautiful thing for a driver to know he no longer needs the victory to take the title. Hamilton did his business early, establishing his supremacy in the early part of the season. 

Here is how Hamilton phrased his approach to 2016 at a pre-season send-off at Mercedes headquarters in Stuttgart last week: “I have been racing for a long time and always managed to get myself in gear. I am fit and ready to go. I just do me. I do the same thing I always do.”

In other words, “eff off, the lot of you.”

Hamilton conveyed his dismay at what he sees as a tiresome line of questioning via his Snapchat account after recording on video a brief part of the Stuttgart party: “Same questions for the last 10 years, zzzz.”

Hamilton has by increments shed the corporate cloak that suffocates Formula One. It would have been inconceivable were he to have attempted a similar stunt when sat on the stage in Valencia at the McLaren launch nine years ago. Then, in his desperation and yearning to be there, he agreed to conceal his personality and his identity behind a compliant smile and McLaren-speak. 

Those were the last days of the big hello, a real launch in front of real people, eating real tapas, washed down with real bubbly. And all paid for by a company willing to pay £25m a year for the privilege of having its name on the car. Whither Santander now? Whither McLaren? Whither Formula One?

Hamilton is one of the few elements that still make it worth the watch. And in this phase of his career he has not only reached an operating peak but a full understanding of who he is and of what he is capable. 

In a revealing interview with Gary Richardson on BBC 5 Live’s Sportsweek he spoke of feeling “energised, excited and eager to get going” when the cars line up for the first Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne on Sunday.  

The last six months, he claimed, have been the best of his life. “Having a blast…travelling, sports, gaming, parties, doing fun stuff… training, sky-diving.” 

Turns out the excesses DC is worried about have coincided with the best period of Hamilton’s career. A happy Hamilton is a winning Hamilton, and unapologetically so.

The doubters, who hope last season’s post-championship drop-off in performance might be significant, face disappointment if the exuberance he ladled across the airwaves yesterday is any guide. 

He is not going to Australia feeling like a three-time champion, he advised, but with the same hunger he had as a 21-year-old in GP2 hunting down a seat at the big show. “It’s a clean slate. I don’t feel like I’m world champion. That’s why I have No 44 on my car, not No 1. I’m here to beat everyone.” 

And the evidence suggests he will as long as Mercedes can.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg set to reopen fight for F1 dominance - Paul Weaver

I look forward to three teams battling it out for glory this season, with more overtaking at the sharp end, a better, more equable division of money to prevent half the paddock being permanently broke and a vision for the future that extends beyond the selfishly short term. Oh, yes – and I believe in the tooth fairy too.

Alas, none of the above will happen. Formula One will continue to be mired in politics, Mercedes will dominate once again and half the teams in the world’s most glamorous sport will still be raggedy-ass skint.

Yet doggedly – perhaps stupidly – I am looking forward to the new season. While it is difficult to see either Red Bull or Williams raising their game to confront the Silver Arrows, there is optimism that Ferrari may do just that, and win more than the three races they took off the Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg power axis last year.

The expectation is the Mercedes hegemony will continue. They were so commanding last year they were able to down tools on their 2015 car early on and concentrate on developing a new model. But Ferrari’s technical director, Britain’s impressive James Allison, should maintain the improvement the Scuderia made last year, after they failed to win a race in 2014, the first time that had happened for 21 years. Ferrari are the biggest, most famous team in F1. If they can compete strongly it would reinvigorate the sport.

The reality is the championship is likely to be fought out between Hamilton and Rosberg, just as it has been for the past two seasons. Last year Hamilton was more dominant than he had been in 2014 but the final race of the season, in Abu Dhabi at the end of November, gave us something to ponder.

Hamilton had won the championship with his victory in Austin in October, with three races remaining. Rosberg had the better of him in the next two grands prix,in Mexico and Brazil. By the time the circus arrived at the Yas Marina circuit, where the British driver had won twice before, he was desperate to reassert his supremacy but he could not.

Yet Hamilton could not be accused of not trying. He cut swathes of time into Rosberg’s lead after his second tyre change and argued with his team over strategy. Rosberg, who had qualified for pole with a stunning lap, still romped home by 8.2sec. Hamilton won 11 of the first 12 poles last year, as well as 10 of the 16 races it took to clinch the title, but Rosberg finished with three straight wins and a run of six poles.

Hamilton is the most natural and fastest driver in F1 but suddenly he was the second quickest of the Mercedes drivers and there were signs he was taking his superiority over Rosberg for granted.

An important figure at Mercedes said recently: “Lewis believes he is three-tenths quicker than Nico but if he isn’t he automatically thinks there is something wrong with his car.”

Rosberg is famously assiduous in the work he does with his team. That is not to say Hamilton is lazy but like Ian Botham, who also relied on natural talent, he does not spend too much time in the nets.

There are still plenty of things wrong with F1. There is not enough competition between the leading teams and not enough overtaking. Everything is too technical and too expensive and TV viewers are tuning off. But F1, despite itself, just may improve on a disappointing 2015.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg "the perfect couple" says Mercedes boss

Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche is happy with Hamilton's 'rock star lifestyle if he keeps winning F1 races

Mercedes-Benz chairman Dieter Zetsche has told Auto Express that he thinks his current pairing of drivers, current F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and German Nico Rosberg, are the perfect couple. 

Asked if Lewis Hamilton’s famed partying could become a problem for Mercedes’ F1 team, Zetsche told us: “As long as Lewis wins races he can organise the rest of his life, as long as it is within the scope of our brand values, as he wants to.

“And when you look at the relevance of his personality and the social networks with 12 million followers and so on, what can we wish for more than a rock star? He’s the fastest on the track and that’s perfect.

“At the same time we have the other guy who’s as fast and has a very different lifestyle with a family and a kid. These are the two bookends and I think we are really very lucky to have them, they are the perfect couple, absolutely.”

Zetsche also revealed that he hoped that Formula One would become more competitive in future. At the end of the 2015 F1 season, Hamilton was 59 points ahead of Rosberg and 103 points ahead of third place Sebastian Vettel, while in the manufacturers’ standings Mercedes was 275 clear of second-placed Ferrari.

“We want to win,” said Zetsche, “Preferably in the last race by two points. But this is not our task to reduce the gap, but the task of our competitors.”

What do you think of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg as an F1 team pairing? Let us know in the comments below...

Lewis Hamilton: Winning Brazilian Grand Prix would be 'salute' to Ayrton Senna

Briton has never won Brazil GP and would dearly love to honour his great hero, whose tally of three world titles he matched this year.

Lewis Hamilton says winning this Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix for the first time would be a “salute” to his great hero, Ayrton Senna, whose tally of three world titles he matched this year.

Although Hamilton took his first championship in São Paulo back in 2008 in memorable fashion, the 30-year-old has generally struggled at Interlagos. He was leading three years ago in his final race for McLaren, only to be taken out by Nico Hulkenberg.

Lewis Hamilton is looking forward to this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix

As so often there are parallels with Senna, who did not win on home soil in Brazil until his eighth attempt in 1991, despite the gearbox jamming in the closing stages. Hamilton has earmarked Brazil both because of Senna and the fact it is one of few races on the calendar he has not won.

“This was the home race for Ayrton, so it was a dream of mine to race in São Paulo when I was younger and I always feel his presence when I'm there,” Hamilton said.

Ayrton Senna did not win on home soil in Brazil until his eighth attempt in 1991

“He was such a huge hero in Brazil and it's humbling that I always get such a warm response there. It's amazing to think that it took Ayrton eight attempts to win this race and it's one of the few I haven't yet won myself.

“If I can change that this weekend it would be a salute to him and another highlight to add to this amazing year, so I'll be going all out to make that happen.”

• Rossi accuses rivals of colluding to deny him world title

With the championship already wrapped up, Hamilton is facing an increasingly feisty rivalry with Nico Rosberg, his Mercedes team-mate.

While Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss, describes it as “good for the sport” and “good for the team”, it threatens to boil over in the two remaining dead rubbers of the season.

Nico Rosberg won last year's Brazilian GP

Rosberg won this race last season, absorbing extreme pressure for Hamilton in the final 20 laps. The German is determined to spoil Hamilton’s party fresh from winning last time out in Mexico.

“I've usually been pretty quick there and last year was a good battle with Lewis, when I came out on top,” Rosberg said.

“Standing on the top step after a hard-earned win, following in the footsteps of so many great drivers who have won there and with the passionate Brazilian crowd cheering on - that was a great feeling.

“I'd love to experience that again, so the aim is to put on another good show for the fans and to carry my form from Mexico into this race.”

Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton spotted on night out together sparking reconciliation rumours

The pair left the London club separately but are rumoured to have spent four hours inside together.

Nicole Scherzinger and Lewis Hamilton haver sparked reconciliation rumours after they were snapped at the same London nightclub this weekend.

The former couple split up in February, but sent the rumour mill into overdrive as they partied at The Box in Soho together on Friday night.

According to reports, they spent up to four hours inside together as singer John Newman performed, but left the venue separately.

However a spokesperson for Nicole denied they're reuniting, and told Mirror Online: "It was a coincidence they were both at the same club. Nicole is not back with Lewis."

They split in February

Photos show Nicole keeping her head down as she stepped past cameras, dressed down in a loose pink silk blouse and jeans.

The singer smiled happily as she stepped outside, seemingly unphased by the meltdown she had just created amongst the ex couple's fans.

Meanwhile Lewis attempted to hide his face as he wore a red jacket and cap with a chunky gold chain, flashing a brief smile to passers by.

A source told The Sun: "They arrived separately to watch a John Newman performance and sat at different tables.

It's the first time they have been spotted together since the split.

"But then they were taken to a private room. John and 5 Seconds Of Summer were in a second one."

While it's unclear if the reunion was planned, it's claimed they spent a large amount of their night together once inside.

The source added: "The Box's security were not allowed in Nicole and Lewis' room and told to not let anybody else in.

The pair dated on and off for years

"They stayed well after the club shut. Staff were desperate for them to leave."

The coupe split in February amid rumours they were struggling with a long distance relationship, and Lewis couldn't commit to marriage.

Lewis' rep declined to comment, while Nicole's denied they're back together.