Lewis Hamilton could well have seen his 2016 Formula One World Championship hopes go up in smoke in Malaysia.
With 15 laps to go, in a Grand Prix weekend which the three-time Formula One World Champion had dominated the Brit saw his Mercedes power-unit burst into flames.
Hamilton had looked set to re-take the championship lead, however with his retirement and Nico Rosberg finishing on the podium, the German extended his lead to 23 points.
Understandably Hamilton was visibly rocked speaking to the media, referring to the sheer bad luck he has had with Mercedes this season.
His 2016 campaign has been plagued by reliability issues and his frustration boiled over.
‘There are eight drivers [with Mercedes power-units] and mine are the only ones who has failed.
‘Someone has to give me some answers and it is not acceptable.
‘Something or someone doesn’t want me to win this year.’ he told the BBC as quoted by motorsport.com immediately after the race.
Hamilton who is open about his faith, was clearly referring to ‘higher power’ when mentioning ‘something or someone’, but that didn’t stop the conspiracy theorists and media jumping on the comment and inferring that perhaps a German manufacturer would like a German driver to win the title, especially during the final year of the current regulations where Mercedes dominance may come to an end in 2017.
But Hamilton has cleared up any element of doubt by clarifying his comments: ‘It feels right now that a higher power is intervening a little bit.
‘But I feel like I have been blessed, with the great opportunity to be here.
‘[I am working] with so many great people around me, the opportunity to be in this great team, to win two world championships and lots of lots of victories and records that I am breaking, so I have to be grateful for those and, while this does not feel great, I am eternally grateful.’
He added: ‘ as I said in the interview, Mercedes have built 43 engines, with the extra three I have had, and I have had most of the failures. It is definitely a tough thing.
‘But I have 100 percent confidence in these guys.
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