02/10/2016
NEWS STORY
Having caused a media storm with his initial comments, Lewis Hamilton has reaffirmed his faith in his team.
Speaking in the moments following his retirement from what seemed a certain win which would have closed the gap to his title rival, and teammate, Nico Rosberg, Hamilton appeared to suggest there is a plot within his team to prevent him winning the title.
"There are eight Mercedes (engines) on the grid," he told reporters, "I just can't believe that only my engines have been going this year.
"Something just doesn't feel right," he continued, "but there's nothing I can do about it. It's a brand new engine out of the three that I had. There's been forty-three engines and only mine have blown. Something or someone doesn't want me to win this year."
Having what the Daily Mail would describe as having sent the (F1) internet into meltdown, and amidst a growing media storm, the Briton sought to clarify his comments.
"Honestly, you've got to understand it from my point of view," he said. "On one side, we've had the most incredible success these past two years, for which I'm so grateful. These guys work so hard and we're all feeling the pain right now.
"When you get out of the car, that feeling you have after leading the race and then your car fails, it's pretty hard to say positive things at the time. As I said in the TV interviews, Mercedes have built 43 engines or however many it might be with the extra three I've had, and I have happen to have most of, if not all of, the failures. So, that is definitely tough to take.
"But I have 100% confidence in these guys," he insisted. "It's my fourth year with them now and the guys in the garage and back at the factories, I have 100% faith in them. I love it here and without them I would not have won these two championships.
"While the struggle is real right now and has been all year, I honestly feel that it's a test of my will, my spirit and who I am as a person to get back in and keep fighting it head on. It's not how you fall, it's how you get back up. That applies not just to me but to the guys as well.
"I saw tears in the eyes of my mechanics so I know that we all bear the pain. But, as I said, it's how we re-group. We have to keep in mind what we've already built. While in the short term it doesn't look good and for the long-term this year it might not be so good, there are still lots of positives.
"There are still five races to go and if I can perform the way I performed this weekend there's still everything to play for. We will learn.
"The guys will take the engine back and they'll understand what happened. Every time we've had engine issues they've gone away and found out why. It puts us potentially in a better position to make sure it doesn't happen next year.
"All I can do is what I've done this weekend. Come correct, be as focused as I can possibly be, put in this kind of performance and pray that the car holds together.
"I still have faith and hope. That's a powerful thing. It feels a little bit like the man above, or a higher power, is intervening a little bit. But I feel like I've been blessed with the opportunity firstly to be here with so many great people around me, in this great team, to have won these last two championships with lots and lots of victories and records that I'm breaking time and time again.
"Whilst it does not feel great right now, I have to be grateful for all of that. If at the end of the year the higher powers don't want me to be champion after everything I've given towards it, I will have to accept that. As long as I end the year knowing that I've given it everything, done everything I could possibly do and that we've done everything we could possibly do, that's all you can ask for. Don't forget that I'm World Champion. I'll be okay."