It would help if the conspiracy theorists would read what Ian says: because if the new rules, teams lack experience where the 100 and where the 105% are. So they can't actually design their car for exactly what's needed while still keeping weight as lloow as possible. A degree of trial and error is obviously involved. The guy who works the car harder will be find the limits more often. He can either accept that and enjoy the speed advantage he has over the other guy who works the car very slightly less hard; or he can choose to work the car very slightly hard himself.
And I know that the English love a conspiracy theory, but really, please keep this in perspective: there are several hundred Englishmen working for Mercedes. Do you really think Mercedes would even consider running the risk of just one of them telling about the secret conspiracy, even 20 years down the road? It would ruin Mercedes' hard-won reputation in England for decades.
If Merc really had wanted a German to win, they wouldn't have had to hire Hamilton in the first place, they could have signed Hülkenberg.