MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff has taken aim at the "lunatic" conspiracy theories which followed another victory for Nico Rosberg and yet another car failure for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the Russian Grand Prix.
World champion Hamilton is now 43 points behind Rosberg following the German's seventh successive win - a streak which stretches back to last season - and his fourth from as many races this year.
Hamilton started 10th after his engine expired in qualifying and the Briton encountered further problems as he began to reel Rosberg in. Indeed, Hamilton was just over seven seconds adrift of Rosberg when he was informed of a problem with his engine. He subsequently crossed the line 25 seconds behind his team-mate.
Naturally, sceptics have suggested Mercedes are sabotaging Hamilton's efforts to pave the way for Rosberg, a German driver, to win the championship for a German team, but Wolff believes that is just ridiculous.
"I think it is very difficult to take people seriously out there when they are lying on their beds with their laptops on their chests, sending out those abusive messages," he said. "Of course we don't do it deliberately. The team has been abused in some of the social media and conspiracy theories are out there.
"My response to this is that I don't want to ignore this bunch of lunatics who think that we would harm our driver, who has been a double world champion for us.
"He hasn't let us down and we wouldn't let him down. This is a mechanical sport and these things happen."
Mercedes chartered a private jet packed with replacement parts from their Brixworth base to ensure that Hamilton was not further penalised with a pit-lane start. The jet touched down in Sochi at 2am with Hamilton's mechanics working through the night to enable him to take part in Sunday's race.
"They are doing their utmost because Lewis is so important to us and we don't want this to happen," Wolff continued.
Hamilton, meanwhile, has defended Mercedes over his car problems.
"My guys are doing a fantastic job and it's not their fault," he said.
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