We’re four races into the 2016 season and it has proved to be a tumultuous one so far for the reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton.
The Briton is winless after first quartet of events and trails his Mercedes AMG teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg by 43 points.
A series of misfortunate events have been the root of this rocky start to Hamilton’s title defence, with poor starts of his own volition during the opening two rounds and reliability woes in the next two.
China saw the three-time world champion start from the rear of the grid, after an MGU-H failure on his W07 Hybrid curtailed him from participating in qualifying. Painstakingly he raced to seventh, where he found himself unable to pass the Williams of Felipe Massa.
The same MGU-H gremlin, thought to be diagnosed and rectified brought grief again at the recent Russian Grand Prix. This time it was just prior to Q3 when it denied him a second time a shot at pole position.
Barring a water pressure problem, which was believed to have potentially arisen due to the hasty installation of new components specially flown from the UK the night before the race – Hamilton’s charge from tenth could have seen him win the race.
Having the celebrity status that the 31-year old does, it is natural that he attracts a particular following. Whom on this occasion have cried ‘sabotage’ in abusive social media rants towards the Silver Arrows.
It was evident in the manner of his response, how outraged team boss Toto Wolff was over these allegations.
“I want to ignore this bunch of lunatics who think we would harm a driver who is our driver and who has been a double-world champion for us,” the Austrian blasted.
“This is a mechanical sport, these things happen.”
Indeed they do and the cruel realities of motorsport don’t discriminate. Even multiple world champions aren’t spared, just ask four-time title winner Sebastian Vettel who has failed to even finish the first lap on two of four occasions this season.
It is fair to also put a question mark on Hamilton’s own form. Having not won a race since his title victory in October last year, he was utterly trounced by Rosberg in the remaining three events of 2015 when there were no reliability excuses.
Having recently stated also that he doesn’t ‘owe the sport anything,’ has many polarised as to whether his headspace is entirely within Formula One.
There’s no discounting Rosberg’s own performances and he himself is craving a genuine clash with his teammate in 2016 on track.
Nevertheless, the stats from the sport’s history are in the German’s favour. The only three drivers who’ve triumphed in the opening four races have all won the title in the end. These being Nigel Mansell, Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.
From here the road will be arduous and will be a stern test of character for the mercurial Hamilton.
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