Mercedes is to look into Lewis Hamilton's relative slump in form in the final races.

Whilst, on arrival in Brazil, the Briton admitted to "partying" having an effect on his performance since securing the title in Austin, he has also cited an issue with his car, claiming it hasn't felt right since Singapore, a race that was disastrous for the team and witnessed Hamilton's only DNF of the season.

Then again, he has also claimed the team is being "warm" towards his teammate.

Certainly, since his nightmare outing in Austin, Nico Rosberg has been on another level, taking three successive wins to add to six successive poles, both being personal records for the German.

In the wake of another difficult race for Hamilton, which has led to further questioning of the team's strategy, Mercedes is to investigate the Briton's end of season 'slump'.

"We have to do an intelligent list over the next weeks and try to analyse it," Mercedes Motorsport boss Toto Wolff told reporters following Rosberg's Abu Dhabi win. "We have to find out."

Like many, Wolff admits to wondering, has Rosberg "stepped up his game, or has the car come towards him development wise, or has Lewis just taken it more easily unconsciously, for sure not consciously".

"Lewis is still pushing very hard," he insisted, "he is still the guy with the same talent and putting the same effort into it. You have to ask him."

Referring to Hamilton's claim that the car has been different since Singapore - after which he won three successive races en route to taking the title - Wolff said: "I wouldn't say it is the most likely suspicion. The car is being developed and improved and after Singapore we developed in a different direction.

"We took some learning on board off that weekend and whether the car has come more towards Nico and gone away from Lewis, it could be a factor but I wouldn't want to reduce it to one factor, there could be many factors playing a role," he added.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Spindoctor, 02/12/2015 15:52

"Nobody outside the inner cabal at Mercedes knows what's happened, and I doubt they're telling!

They've got some really serious problems.
As a German company, they'd like Nico to do well, if only to resucitate F1's flagging fortunes at home. On the other hand Hamilton has done, and will do far more to promote their brand worldwide.

If the status quo (Nico half a second faster) remains then the problem will be even worse next season. Especially if Honda develop a decent powerplant (30/70) and\or Ferrari develop theirs further.
Nico can clearly beat Hamilton in the current car, but I rather suspect that its not the fastest car they can make. I'd eschew the more virulent conspiracy theories, but I doubt Hamilton lost nearly a second to Nico all on his own....

In a situation with Vettel, Raikonnen & maybe Alonso\Button in roughly comparable cars, if I were Toto I'd not want Nico leading my Team. Worse still, should RBR\Renault find more oomph you can add Verstappen, Ricciardo, Kvyat et al to the list of fast, aggressive RACERS Nico has so-far shown little aptitude beating in comparable machinery.

This might be further compounded[sic] if Pirreli delivers the even crappier ("Cliff") tyres that some (like BE) want for next season. We'll go from a PU formula to a "tyre" formula, and nearly anything could happen, no matter how much faster the Mercedes car is on new tyres."

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2. Posted by nonickname, 01/12/2015 12:17

"Depends if your market is Gangsa Rappers or not"

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3. Posted by Jonno, 01/12/2015 9:15

"It appears Mercedes are in a position to chose who wins next year. Will it be the popular, happy black man, with world wide appeal or the miserable one, who buckles under pressure and sulks a lot.

"

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4. Posted by karel, 01/12/2015 6:23

"I think that Mercedes is very capable of optimising or minimising the cars. This has also determinated the outcome of the championship"

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5. Posted by gturner38, 01/12/2015 1:44

"So what if the development of the car has shifted the performance towards Rosberg's liking? Presumably that means the car was originally more suited to Hamilton, which would only serve to minimize his achievement in beating his teammate. So far we've heard he lost because the car didn't handle well, because he didn't have a good pit strategy (even when it was the same on as his teammate and he didn't want to follow the team instructions to allow them to change it), and he lost because Interlagos is impossible to pass on despite holding the record for the site of the most passes in a single Grand Prix. Is Lewis taking a page out of Red Bull's PR notebook when it comes to losing?"

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6. Posted by Exilephone, 30/11/2015 19:30

"As a long time fan and enthusiast I and many of my fellow f1 chums , regret the heavy handed ,clear and transparent manipulation of the outcome of the last races of the season , it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, from the people I talk to and many current blogs this is a wide spread feeling , totos puny rationalisation won't wash. Exilephone"

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Mercedes to investigate Hamilton 'slump'

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