It was Mercedes’ fourth win of the season but it surely has been an inconsistent yr and they’re set to complete fourth within the constructors’ championship, having been third in 2022 and second in 2023.
Russell is assured of one other good end result subsequent weekend in Qatar, the penultimate race of the season.
“I believe we’ve received a superb shot in Qatar,” he mentioned. “Going into this triple-header, I had my sights set on Qatar even to the purpose the place I wished to take my earlier engine out and put an outdated engine in and save my finest engine for Qatar.”
Seven-time world champion Hamilton appeared set to place his automotive on pole in qualifying however made errors within the last session, which meant he began on the fifth row.
He got here by means of the sector and handed world champion Max Verstappen to take second earlier than narrowing the hole to Russell within the closing phases.
Hamilton had mentioned he “didn’t really want to come back” following a depressing race in Brazil three weeks in the past however at one stage it appeared like he may catch Russell in Las Vegas and problem for the win.
“If I would finished my job yesterday it might have been a breeze as we speak,” mentioned Hamilton.
“If the automotive drives like that within the subsequent couple of races then I believe we’ll be in a great spot to problem the blokes up entrance. The championship’s finished, so now it’s simply all out, struggle for the perfect positions attainable.”
Mercedes group principal Toto Wolff mentioned: “Immediately we actually crushed everybody, we might have gone simply quicker, at occasions we have been two seconds faster than everybody else.
“We appear to be excellent when it’s excessive velocity and on a little bit of the chillier aspect with much less grip and that’s one thing we could be proud about. However when it’s getting scorching that’s when the automotive isn’t performing so effectively.”
