Mercedes F1 team issues letter to fans over recent criticism

Nico Rosberg has had a near perfect start to the season, building a 43-point championship lead, but his team-mate Lewis Hamilton has suffered a lot of bad luck.

The reigning world champion suffered an identical MGU-H problem in qualifying in both the Chinese and Russian GPs and had to back off an attack on Rosberg in the race at Sochi because of a water pressure problem.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said on Sunday 'conspiracy theorists' accusing his team of deliberately hampering Hamilton to favour Nico Rosberg are 'lunatics'.

On Wednesday, Mercedes published a lengthy letter on its website detailing the huge amount of effort that goes in to ensure the team operates at such a high level.

It highlighted the "monumental" effort that was required to get Hamilton's engine ready for Sunday's race and the "stressful" nature of race day, when Hamilton completed the last 16 laps with what it says was zero water pressure remaining.

"For those watching at home, a grand prix weekend starts on a Thursday morning and ends on Sunday night," said the team.

"A bad result might hurt for a few hours afterwards but then life moves on. For more than one thousand people at Brackley and Brixworth, however, this is our life.

"They sweat, strain, laugh, cry, shout, scream, celebrate, and commiserate - together. And, as one of our own often says, they win and lose - together.

"We have the best guys and girls in the world, doing an awesome job, week in and week out - and they do it for the team.

"Not for one driver or the other - but for each other.

"There is no 'A' or 'B' team here. Every single member of the crew has earned their right to be counted among the elite of their trade - and have sacrificed much to do so."

And while the team thanked those who have stood by it, it hoped it could convince those who have been critical to change their views.

"To those who stand with us, we thank you," it said.

"And to the rest - the haters, the naysayers, the conspirators - if we can convince even half of you of what we really stand for, we'll consider that a battle well won."

Hamilton added that he understood the frustration of his fans saying: "My people saying that are feeling whatever pain I'm feeling.

"They are feeling the hurt and emotions we go through, naturally in any sport or any situation, the easiest thing is to jump to the negative.

"I just want to assure them my guys are working as hard as they can and doing a fantastic job, it's not their fault."