Mercedes technical chief rejects claims of sabotage - MotorSportsTalk

SUZUKA, Japan (AP) Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe brushed off suggestions that sabotage was behind Lewis Hamilton’s engine failure at last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was leading on lap 41 of 56 at the Sepang International Circuit when his engine blew, handing the race lead and ultimately victory to Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

The frustrated Hamilton was furious after the Malaysian race, and hinted at perhaps something more than bad luck.

“Someone doesn’t want me to win this year, but I won’t give up. I will keep pushing,” Hamilton said on Sunday.

With five races left in the season, it will be difficult for Hamilton to make up the deficit to Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg, who holds a 23-point lead in the championship race.

Speaking after Friday’s practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix, Lowe said that wasn’t what Hamilton was suggesting.

“I can’t agree with you that the driver hinted there was sabotage,” Lowe said when asked whether such a thing would be possible. “Lewis has been very clear, certainly with us, that that’s completely out of the question.”

Lowe admitted that the team had let Hamilton down but said any suggestion of sabotage was wrong.

“We’ve had other failures in the year that are very unfortunate and if we were good enough to arrange such sabotage we wouldn’t have any failures,” Lowe said. “It’s a very tough business, Formula One. The engineering is operating right at the boundary of performance and things do go wrong.”

Rosberg has finished second behind Hamilton in Suzuka the last two years. He was fastest in Friday’s practice session, edging Hamilton but only seven hundredths of a second.

A win on Sunday would move the German driver a step closer to his first championship while delivering a serious blow to Hamilton’s chances for a third consecutive title.

An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”