Hamilton defends Mercedes crew from fan criticism

After his recent run of problems, some fans have used social media to attack Mercedes and have accused the team of favouring Nico Rosberg, who continued his perfect start to the season with another victory in Russia.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff however labelled such conspiracy theorists as "lunatics" on Sunday, and Hamilton also felt the need to defend those responsible for preparing his car.

"I'm really proud of my guys, [and] the guys who flew over last night with new parts," said Hamilton. "Particularly on my side of the garage they're definitely having a hard time at the moment. 

"Since I joined I've had a group of guys, then for no particular reason it was swapped.

"Those guys have come over and we've had some bad experiences, and for sure I can only imagine they are feeling the pressure, and it's nothing to do with them, they're doing a fantastic job.

"And there's no reason why we can't win, we're just having these bugs that are coming along.

"Currently I'm not told whether it's human error or mechanical error exactly, but I think that's what they're trying to rectify."

Fans feeling the pain

Regarding the conspiracy theorists, Hamilton said: "Firstly, the people that might be saying that are feeling whatever pain that I am feeling.

"That's the thing, we win and we lose together. They're feeling the hurt and emotions that you go through because we're connected in that way, that's a beautiful thing.

"Naturally in any sport or any situation the easiest thing is to jump to the negative. I just want to assure them as I said before my guys are doing a fantastic job, and it's not their fault."

The reigning champion also made an intriguing observation about the investigation into the problems he had in China.

"There are things that I've tried to understand and I've asked to be informed of what's going on in the process," he said.

"For example after the last race I didn't get an email of the report, so I didn't actually know about that. Later on I got here and they said we should have emailed you.

"Next week I'll get all the information, and if it's not sent to me, I'll make sure I'll get it.

"Just because I want to be a part of the process, and there's a lot of input I can have, and help. Ultimately we're a team. We win and we lose together, so it's about us pulling together."