Mercedes

It was a lonely race for Mercedes, competing only against each other. Hamilton got ahead of Russell at the start, but Russell caught him after the safety car arrived. That was the status quo from the first to the second stint, but then Russell suffered front wing damage, which allowed Hamilton to close again. It took a few laps for the former world champion to get past, but in the end he secured the team victory.

Lewis Hamilton, 4

“In the end we moved forward and scored good points for the team today. We didn't look that fast in the first stint; I didn't have enough front wing in the car and suffered from severe understeer. We did that.” At our second stop we were able to improve our balance and our pace improved. Even if we had enjoyed that speed in the first stint, we still wouldn't have had the pace to challenge the lead in P4 and P5. However, today is better than we predicted so we can be happy with our afternoon.

“This wasn't the smoothest weekend for the team, but we gathered a lot of information on both specifications. Now we can analyze this data and evaluate the best course of action for next weekend in Brazil and the rest of the season. “Hopefully we can put the car in a slightly better place for Interlagos and take the fight to the Ferraris and McLarens.”

George Russell, 5

“I had a strong first stint, but as I was overtaking Oscar Piastri's McLaren at the start of my second stint, I hit a bump and suffered front wing damage. That definitely cost me a few tenths per lap.” That was a bit of a shame. We had to do more than 30 laps, but even without them we wouldn't have had the speed to fight for the podium today as a team and maybe be a little better than we thought before the race.

“We will continue to work hard to improve because we want to be at the top. We continue to make progress with the car, as you can see by the fact that the gap to the teams behind us in the championship is increasing. We have also caught up.” The gap to Red Bull has grown since the start of the season, but it is clear that Ferrari and McLaren have made even greater progress. We will use these last four races of the season to continue our learning, try different things and position ourselves well for next year.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport

“Overall, it is likely that we are currently in terms of pace with our car, P4 and P5. On tracks that require good traction, we can't keep up with those at the front. This is frustrating, but we are working hard to perform better and build momentum for 2025. These last few races are a good opportunity for us to test different things and set ourselves up as strong as possible for next year.

“In today’s race, George was hampered by front wing damage, which cost him a good part of his performance. He was still riding strong and his pace was decent compared to Verstappen behind. The Red Bull never became a threat to our race after that.” At the first pit stop we also saw that Lewis' speed on the hard compound was good and comparable to those at the front. We're now heading to Brazil and will try to finish the triple-header as strongly as possible.”

Andrew Shovlin, Track Technical Director

“Without incident, P4 and P5 are probably the best results we could have brought home today. After Verstappen received his penalty, we believed we would interact with him at some point after these first few stops. Pleasingly, both George and Lewis had that.” The speed to break away from him and score solid points was hampered when the front wing flap buckled after he hit a bump at the start of the second stint. Fifth: We let the drivers compete against each other all the time. This meant that Lewis' tires were past their best when he hit the open air. We have to challenge at the front.

“It wasn't the smoothest weekend here in Mexico or at the previous race in Austin. However, we learned a lot as a team at both Grands Prix. With our position in the Constructors' Championship likely fixed, we have the chance too.” To further deepen our learnings from the last four races, we will continue to do so as we head to Brazil and Interlagos for the final race of this triple-header.