Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the team's recent letter debunking conspiracy theories was addressed to the team's "real fans".
Despite a one-two in Sochi, Mercedes was left defending itself following the Russian Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton's engine issues led to a backlash from fans on social media and accusations of favouritism to Nico Rosberg. The team countered those claims by pointing out Rosberg's own issues in the race in a detailed letter explaining why it feared for both cars during the race -- labelling Hamilton's finish a "miracle".
Wolff, who called the conspiracy theorists "lunatics" after the race, says the team wrote the letter to support those fans who had argued in Mercedes' favour.
"It was a letter to our real fans because what you could see on social media was that they supported us, suffered with us, argued in our cause," Wolff said on the team's YouTube channel in a video titled 'Mercedes F1's most stressful 1-2 finish ever'. "That was so nice that we felt we wanted to give them an insight into what was happening and how we felt and that we thanked them for the sport.
"We want to be transparent in our communication, show there's is nothing we're hiding. This is how we operate. This is why I think the letter was a good example and a good way of sharing our feelings and thanking for the support of our fans."
Wolff says the team's recent reliability problems are proof Ferrari has closed the gap at the front.
"With the regulations staying stable for a while now you want to extract every bit of benefit and performance out of the engine and the chassis, which is therefore much more difficult. Ferrari has m made a huge step over the winter again and this is why we are pushing the boundaries. Sometimes when you reach the limit you just need to find out and this is where we are today."
The full video can be seen below.