A season which has already prompted a number of conspiracy theories took a further twist today when Lewis gave a cryptic response when asked why his team opted to change members of his crew.

Ahead of the season finale, as the British media continues to question Nico Rosberg's right to the crown, essentially saying the German has lucked into it at the expense of his teammate, fans also continue to question the poor reliability that dogged the Briton's season especially in the early stages.

In Malaysia, Hamilton added further fuel to the fire when, following his retirement while leading the race, he suggested there was a plot against him involving a higher source. As the Mercedes PR stormed into action defending its bosses, the Briton insisted that he was actually referring to 'the man upstairs'.

Today, ahead of a season finale which will end in a title for one and disappointment for the other, Hamilton once again hinted that there are mysterious goings on happening behind the scenes, though he refused to elaborate.

Asked about the team's decision to swap five crew members from one driver to the other, turning to Nico Rosberg, Hamilton said: "First of all, what was the explanation given to you?"

"The easiest way to answer that is to look at team spirit with the team," said the German. "We've been fighting now for three years, within the team we've been fighting for race wins and the championship, so it's quite natural that a little separation can happen between the two sides of the garage.

"For overall team performance that's not a good thing," he continued, "because for overall team performance you've got to have great team spirit, everyone fighting for one direction, everybody holding together. And that's why the decision was taken to rotate just a little bit, and I think it's shown this year that it was a very good thing to do because team spirit has been as good as ever. We've had some great parties together and whatever. Everybody's sticking together and it's an awesome feeling within the team. So it looks like that was the right thing to do, even though initially it's not something that is super comfortable because my mechanics were close to me and to then change takes a bit of time."

When the Briton was asked his opinion on the move, he cryptically replied: "You'll have to buy my book down the line in ten years when I tell you exactly what happened.

"It'll be an interesting read," he added with a grin.

Check out our Thursday gallery from Abu Dhabi, here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Stitch431, 25/11/2016 8:00

"The bad luck with the mechanical side Rosberg had, this year turned onto Lewis. Seems to me, Mercedes has to do a serious bit of evaluating the mechanics involved, as the bad luck changed to the other side of the garage by the swop of the mechanics to the other side of the garage..."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by jcr, 25/11/2016 0:31

"THIS SEEM TO INFER THAT ROSBERG RECKONS THE TINTED ONES WERE BETTER THAN HIS
A SAD REFLECTIONS ON THE PEOPLE CONCERNED !!"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by Spindoctor, 24/11/2016 17:17

"I think this horse expired some time ago..."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by ryanhellyer, 24/11/2016 15:03

"This reminds me of the YouTube videos Eddie Irvine has been doing this year. Lots of tidbits of gossip have come out from him, now that he is long into his retirement and is no longer involved with F1. Hopefully we'll get the same from Lewis once he retires."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

"Wait for the book," says Hamilton of crew swap.

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page