Mercedes regroup following Malaysia

The dust has barely settled from Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes engine exploding in Malaysia.

That moment with 15 laps to go, in a Grand Prix weekend which the three-time Formula One World Champion had dominated is likely to prove to be the defining moment of the 2016 Formula One World Championship.

Despite all of Hamilton’s reliability issues which have plagued his entire season, 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 with only 5 races remaining.

The Japanese Grand Prix is the first of those five races, Rosberg arrives outwardly giving away nothing, sticking with his one race at a time mantra.

Hamilton is attempting to give the impression that he moved beyond the disappointment and Mercedes are still trying to figure out what went wrong.

‘the result in Malaysia went in my favour in the title battle. That’s a fact and I cannot pretend otherwise. But I haven’t been thinking about the points situation all season and I’m not going to start now. I’m here to win races and that’s the aim every time. Rosberg told formula1.com.

Hamilton said: ‘last weekend was a massive disappointment. Not just for me personally but for the whole team. But there’s no use dwelling on these things. That’s just negative energy. All we can do is focus on the next race, taking things one step at a time and doing the best job we can. There’s no substitute for hard work and I’ve never been afraid of that. The guys are hurting from what happened too and I know they’ll be working just as hard to get things right next time.

Mercedes Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe said: ?Malaysia was a bitter pill to swallow. We let Lewis down in a big way. We are continuing to investigate the issue with his engine are doing everything we can to ensure that it is first understood and then contained for the remainder of the season.