The tension between Mercedes teammates, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, was surprising low despite the controversial incident at the previous race in Belgium. The pair locked out the front row of the grid, which led fans to worry that there would be another early incident between the duo. As it turned out, Hamilton suffered a technical malfunction which dropped him back in the pack, meaning the team saw very little of each other throughout the race. Hamilton did go on to win the race, but his victory has got many conspiracy theorists into a deep argument. Did Lewis Hamilton win the race or was this victory an apology from Nico Rosberg?
I am very much a fan of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, however, I find it unlikely to believe that Hamilton won this race under his own power. I believe that Hamilton’s victory was predetermined by either the team, Rosberg himself or a combination of both. It’s true that two Mercedes drivers are locking in a tight championship battle and that it is unlikely that either driver would like to give up points, however, the evidence proves otherwise in this case.
The first evidence that leads me to believe that Hamilton was aided in his victory, was the pure speed difference between the two cars. At the start of the race, Rosberg was able to set some lightening fast times, but began to slow down once Hamilton’s issues were fixed. Hamilton then began to cut down the gap at an amazing rate. This is unusual, since the pair were so close to each other in practice and qualifying, it is unexplainable why Rosberg would be losing so much time to Hamilton in the race. I would assume that if it is true that Hamilton was the predetermined winner, the plan was to let him lead right off of the start, however, this plan needed to be changed do to Hamilton losing the lead.
Secondly, Rosberg made the same massive mistake twice, only a few laps apart. Heading down into turn one, Rosberg lost control of the car under braking and being forced to cut the chicane. This happened, not once, but twice, one time because of which, Hamilton pulled into the lead. Because of the high speed at which drivers approach this corner, it is sometimes common for drivers to get the car a little loose entering the turn, but no other drivers – other than Daniil Kvyat – made this mistake to as much magnitude as Rosberg. It is also suspicious that he did this two times. Usually, drivers are pretty good at figuring out what mistakes they made and preventing them from happening again, therefore a driver with as much experience as Rosberg, should be able to prevent this sort of mistake. I believe that cutting the chicane the second time was Rosberg’s way to allow Hamilton to pass, without the possibility of causing him to tangle with Rosberg.
Although I would like to believe that this was not determined by the team, it is quite possible that the team was the mastermind behind this plan. It seems to be this way because when the team orders Hamilton to remain 2.5 seconds behind Rosberg, this is when Hamilton closes the gap to almost nothing. This could have just been complete disobedience on Hamilton’s part, but this could have also be a keyword to tell Hamilton that Rosberg will now give him the lead.
Of course, everything in this post is just my speculation and nothing has yet been proved. I am still a big Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton fan, despite everything thing that has happened this season and I am looking forward to a close championship battle right to the end. Maybe we can have another 1976 Hunt-Lauda rivalry with a stunningly close finish, but we will just have to wait to see how things pan out.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company. Assumptions made in any analysis contained within this article are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
