It was all smiles at Mercedes after Sunday's United States Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton's win and Valtteri Bottas in fifth would see the Brackley outfit secure a fourth consecutive Constructors' Championship.

In doing so, Mercedes joined an elite club consisting of McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull as the only teams to manage a quartet of titles in succession, doing so with three races to spare.

Though 2017 has certainly been the hardest of the four, with new rules and the re-emergence of the Scuderia, and motorsport boss Toto Wolff admitted it the achievement was "unbelievable".

“It’s the reward for so many people that have been hard working in all the tracks to try and identify silver bullets that made the difference," he continued. “The fact is that we have a really great dynamic in the team. We enjoy doing what we do and pull it all together and bringing it all.”

In recent races, it has been the superiority of the Mercedes engine both in terms of performance and reliability which has made the German manufacturer's win a little more comfortable that it appeared it would be, but the Austrian put that down to another strength his team has shown this season.

“We have a motto in the team which is that difficult days are the days that other teams regret because the painful experience makes you so much stronger,” Wolff said.

“If you keep calm and analyze what happened and you try to improve, it’s just adding to your knowledge and adding to your strengths. We’ve seen that happen all through the years, particularly this year we’ve had those painful experiences. It’s part of the development of the team.”

Now, attention will switch to Hamilton finishing the job and earning a fourth Drivers' title, which is likely to be done this weekend in Mexico, but the Briton, who has enjoyed a much better relationship with Mercedes this season compared to a year ago, was delighted to have achieved another major goal.

"I want to say big congrats to everyone in the team and everyone back at the factory," Hamilton stated. "There has been an incredible push for this kind of performance this year and we have really pulled together more than I have experienced and seen over the last five years to really get something quite special.

"Especially to go from one car [set of rules] to another, which has never been done, and I am proud to be a part of it."

Lewis Hamilton completed a perfect weekend at the United States Grand Prix finishing it off with a sixth win in America on Sunday, as Mercedes clinched their fourth straight Constructors’ Championship in Austin.

The battle looked to be on as Sebastian Vettel, starting alongside on the front row, sneaked ahead on the inside of Hamilton to take the lead at Turn 1 but the Briton soon regained control seven laps in, as he overtook the German into Turn 12 and from there on it was just race management for the triple world champion.

The Ferrari driver would be forced onto a two-stop strategy as Red Bull mixed up the race with Max Verstappen, but he would soon catch and pass Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen towards the end to secure second meaning he only lost seven points to championship leader.

In a race that saw crazy overtakes until the last corners, Verstappen, who started sixteenth, overtook Kimi Raikkonen into third place through Turn 17 on the final lap but would lose the podium place after a five-second post-race penalty for cutting the inside of the track dropped him to fourth with Ferrari grabbing a double podium.

Valtteri Bottas paid the choice of opting for a one-stopper after being passed by Raikkonen on the same strategy and then getting caught up and dropping from second to fifth in a disappointing race for the second Mercedes driver.

Esteban Ocon was 'best of the rest' in sixth, as he also surpassed Max Chilton's record of 25 consecutive finishes at the start of an F1 career. The Frenchman did just enough to keep the newly appointed Renault driver Carlos Sainz at bay on what was still an impressive first result with the team in seventh.

Sergio Perez was on the radio once again complaining about his teammate’s pace as the pair line astern and his concern was genuine as the Mexican lost a place to Sainz, slipping to eighth but would earn Force India a 14th double points result of the season.

Felipe Massa used a reverse one-stop strategy, using the Ultrasofts at the end to claim ninth for Williams after some well fought battles, as Daniil Kvyat completed the top 10 on his Toro Rosso return.

Lance Stroll fell short of snatching a point finishing 11th as Stoffel Vandoorne was the only finishing McLaren in 12th, as yet more engine trouble impacted Fernando Alonso forcing him to retire.

Brandon Hartley was able to finish a respectable 13th on his F1 debut but after the performance of Kvyat, it's uncertain if the Kiwi will get another chance in Mexico.

Romain Grosjean was the best finishing Haas at the team’s home Grand Prix, but 14th was a long way from where they had hoped to be. Late contact with Marcus Ericsson meant Kevin Magnussen dropped to sixteenth as both cars were split by the Swede’s Sauber.

Renault's reliability problems continued as two cars were forced to retire with engine problems. Nico Hulkenberg only able to complete one lap, while Daniel Ricciardo’s strong run and podium bid were cut short in Lap 16 as his engine gave up. First lap contact with Magnussen also forced Pascal Wehrlein to retire.

The Constructors' might be wrapped up but, despite Hamilton's win, the Drivers' Championship is not over yet. It may only be a case of delaying the inevitable, however, with a 66-point gap between the Mercedes driver and Vettel.

Indeed, Hamilton only needs a fifth place in Mexico in a week's time to claim his fourth crown and, based on his form since the summer break, that should be a very simple task.

Pierre Gasly will return to compete for Toro Rosso at the Mexican Grand Prix and the Frenchman will have Brendon Hartley alongside as he gets another chance following his debut last weekend in Austin.

The New Zealander performed amicably in his first Formula 1 race finishing 13th after starting 19th, due to engine penalties, with his strength on long-runs from several years of endurance racing serving him well.

With his first full weekend of Grand Prix experience under his belt, Hartley will now get the chance to take all that and use it to further his chances of earning a 2018 seat at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, another circuit he knows from the WEC.

Reflecting on his race at the Circuit of the Americas, though, he said: “It was tough out there, but it’s been an awesome debut Grand Prix! It’s all starting to sink in now and it won’t be until I go to bed tonight and put my eyes at rest that I’ll start to process everything.

“I didn’t do the best of standing starts, but it’s been a long time since I did one of those! After that, I was in many battles and I’m satisfied with my race – the pace was pretty strong, especially at the end."

Given he had such little preparation time and had to adapt to the very different tyres and demands of a modern F1 car, to finish within 30 seconds of Daniil Kvyat in 10th was an impressive achievement and Hartley is sure it should have been closer.

“I think the only small mistake I made was getting overtaken by Stroll a quarter into the race, as I couldn’t pass him back and he held me up a bit," he explained.

"There’s been lots of challenges, lots of things to learn, I’ve enjoyed every single moment of this race weekend and I’d like to thank the whole team for this, it’s been amazing!”

As for Kvyat's own return after two races on the sidelines, the Russian was impressive and certainly looked to have a point to prove as he dropped to 10th late on to a recovering Felipe Massa. 

"It was my best race this year," he declared. "I came here with a new approach to use all the knowledge that I have. I feel I have become stronger psychologically, with a new motivation.

"With a few weeks rest I was able to disconnect and can again feel great potential and used it. I hope I still have the chance to take further advantage of what I have learned."

To see that not be rewarded with a seat in Mexico will certainly disappoint the 23-year-old, however, andhe revealed hopes of talks with motorsport advisor Helmut Marko had also gone unfulfilled.

"No, I have not but I do not want to answer questions about this. When I meet, you will know everything," he added.

Gasly will return after what turned out to be a pointless trip to Japan last weekend, as his chance of claiming the Super Formula title were dashed by a typhoon which led to a cancellation of the racing at Suzuka.

After a 14th and 13th in his first two races in F1, now the former GP2 champion will need to start producing the results expected with his competition strengthening for a 2018 Toro Rosso seat.

Lewis Hamilton is looking to deal a decisive blow to title rival Sebastian Vettel in Sunday's United States Grand Prix, claiming he has the Ferrari driver at "check" after a season-long game of chess.

Hamilton has been on fire in Austin and out-paced Vettel by more than three tenths of a second as he cruised to pole position on Saturday.

The Briton leads the championship by 59 points and can wrap up the title if he goes on to win the race and Vettel finishes sixth or lower.

And whilst Hamilton still expects the battle to go "to the wire", he views the race as an opportunity to deliver a knockout blow.

"It's a bit like a game of chess," he said. "Right now it's check but there is still a long, long way to go. There are still 100 points available.

"Sebastian and his team have been working as hard as they can, as are we. Who knows? It's going to go to the wire."

"I hope tomorrow I can get a good start and really put the nail in the coffin," the five-time US GP winner added.

The pair are braced for an intense scrap at the Circuit of the Americas, with Vettel eyeing a first win since Hungary as he looks to engineer a sensational turnaround.

"It's pretty straightforward: we have to win and then see what happens," Vettel said.

"We are not in the position we would like to be, but still we have a chance and we will go.

"We had the car in the last three races so I don't see why we shouldn't have the package in the next four races."

Fernando Alonso admitted he "couldn't believe it" as another Honda engine problem forced him to retire from the United States Grand Prix this past Sunday.

The Spaniard had been pushing his McLaren to the very limit all weekend, as he looked to make up for a near 20kph top speed deficit down the straight through the corners, his efforts were rewarded with a top 10 grid slot in qualifying but it would all come to nothing in the race.

Despite the obvious disappointment, Alonso, who has only seen the chequered flag at six of the 16 races he has entered this season, was at least satisfied with his own performance.

"I'm very happy with how the weekend went on a personal level. I think the level this weekend was sublime, both in qualifying and in the race," the 36-year-old commented.

The main problem this season has been taking the often lofty positions the double world champion has been in during races, at least compared to his teammate, and converting them into results with just two finishes in the points in Baku and Hungary.

"The engine was losing power and failing and I couldn't believe it,” Alonso said of his retirement in Austin. “In Japan, you start last, you are running 15th or 16th after the penalty and nothing happens, the engine works perfectly all race. Now you are running seventh and it starts to fail and you can't believe it.

"The championship standings don't reflect that (the chances that have been squandered)," he added, "it doesn't change much for me to be 12th or 17th in the championship but on merit, I think we should be a lot higher up."

Declaring the engine from Sunday as "broken", Fernando now expects another fresh unit will be needed this weekend in Mexico and with it, will come another grid penalty, but he is not giving up on the final three races even if there's very little to be gained.

“Obviously all attention is placed on next year but in these three races I'd like to score points to improve in the standings and to help the team as well,” Alonso said.

"But from the three races remaining in one we'll start last, so let's see if we can score in the other two."

Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of practice sessions at the United States Grand Prix after topping the final hour before qualifying on Saturday morning in Austin.

The Mercedes driver, looking for his fourth world title at a circuit he has won at each of the last three years, lowered his own lap record with a 1:34.478s on Ultrasoft tyres but was joined at the top by championship rival Sebastian Vettel in second and less than a tenth off the pace as the German recovered from a troubled Friday.

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas was able to win the battle of the Finns’ finishing ahead of Kimi Raikkonen as the duo claimed third and fourth places respectively.

Red Bull’s form dropped compared to Friday with lead driver Max Verstappen fifth but some 0.6s adrift of the top while Daniel Ricciardo was only a disappointing ninth.

More frustratingly for the Milton Keynes outfit, it was confirmed in the session new engine parts had been fitted to the Dutchman's car overnight meaning a 15-place grid penalty.

Felipe Massa snatched sixth for Williams, benefiting from the improving track conditions late in the session to move ahead of the Renault drivers as Nico Hulkenberg was just ahead of new teammate Carlos Sainz for the first time this weekend as they finished a respective seventh and eighth

Force India maintained their presence in the top 10 with Sergio Perez as the Mexican led teammate Esteban Ocon who missed out on the top 10 by less than two-tenths of a second.

Lance Stroll was ahead of the two McLarens in 12th as Fernando Alonso fell back from his seventh place in Practice 2 and was just one place in front of Stoffel Vandoorne as Brendon Hartley continued his respectable start to his first full F1 Grand Prix weekend with 15th for Toro Rosso.

Kevin Magnussen was only 16th as Haas’ home Grand Prix continued to disappoint while teammate Romain Grosjean saw his session end early as his car got stuck in the gravel, after losing control in the blustery wind at the exit of Turn 7.

The Frenchman's initial time left him 19th behind the two Saubers with Marcus Ericsson finishing ahead of teammate Pascal Wehrlein in 17th and 18th. The Swiss team will simply be hoping to fully benefit from grid penalties for four drivers as Hartley, Vandoorne and Hulkenberg join Verstappen in taking new engine components.

At the back was Daniil Kvyat as the returning Russian was only able to complete six laps before a throttle issue meant he had to sit out for the rest of the session.

A furious Max Verstappen accused the FIA stewards of "killing" Formula 1 after he was awarded a five-second time penalty post-race for going off track and gaining an advantage as he passed Kimi Raikkonen for third on the last lap of the United States Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had already made a remarkable recovery from 16th on the grid to run sixth after just 10 laps at the Circuit of the Americas, after taking a grid drop for further exceeding his engine allocation.

He would then switch to a two-stop strategy to try and disrupt the battle ahead for second between the two Ferraris and Valtteri Bottas, with Sebastian Vettel pitting to cover the threat of the Red Bull.

After dispatching Bottas' Mercedes, Verstappen closed in on Raikkonen for the final lap and would make a  bold move through the long, high-speed sweeps on Turns 16-18, putting all four wheels inside the kerb of Turn 17 in the process.

It would be that infringement that the stewards would penalise which is usually a clear-cut decision, but following the precedent that had been set all weekend until that point by Race Director Charlie Whiting, it was that which infuriated the 20-year-old.  

“I’m feeling good personally. Of course, a big shame that you miss out on the podium afterwards,” Verstappen said describing his initial feelings.

“They take you away again. It’s just one idiot steward up there who makes the decisions against me, also in Mexico,” Max recalled, “Now I get a five-second penalty and a penalty point, for what?

“At the end of the day, everybody’s running wide everywhere, there are no track limits and then you do something like that in front of world TV.

“You pick someone out from the podium again and tell them to go away. At the end of the day, I still had a great race. I’m happy with fourth. Just the way they did it is unbelievable.”

The Malaysian Grand Prix winner believed it was pointless Red Bull trying to overturn the decision, claiming the FIA “decide and you can’t do anything against them" in response, more generally, he also sees such decisions after dramatic moments as ruining the spectacle for those watching.

"What can you do? It’s not good for the crowd. I really hope next year nobody is coming because, like this, the sport doesn’t make sense," Verstappen stated.

“Everyone is loving it, great action. You go five or 10 centimetres in the inside of the kerb, everyone is running wide everywhere, nobody’s saying anything, like in qualifying at Turn 19 you could just run wide wherever you liked and they killed the race basically like that.”

Daniel Ricciardo is seeing the positive angle of Max Verstappen's surprise decision to sign a new contract extension with Red Bull until 2020 while insisting he will get equal treatment alongside the Dutchman.

Though it is the Australian who's contract expires first of the two drivers, doing so at the end of next season, it was Verstappen who had been linked with a move away for 2019 with both Ferrari and Mercedes reportedly keeping a close eye.

Yet, all that ended on Friday after the new deal was announced and Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko claiming it was Max himself who initiated the process.

Asked for his reaction to his teammate's news, Ricciardo admitted it shows a lot of trust in the team from Verstappen to make an early call, particularly after a difficult 2017.

"It's not really got anything to do with me, but if I'm to try and extract some positives out of his news, then I think that it gives us confidence for next year,” he claimed. "Max and his management see a lot of positives in the team to continue like that.

"I'm 100 percent here next year, I can at least say that, and I think it gives us both confidence that we will keep progressing in the way that we are."

Recently Red Bull team boss Christian Horner claimed contracts through 2020 were a priority for both Verstappen and Ricciardo. Now, with one driver signed up it would appear likely the 28-year-old will be next in line, but he is in no rush as he considers his options.

"It's not that I've said no to anything," Daniel said on his own situation."It's still quite early I think... I mean, people have talked a little bit about contracts and silly season for next year, but I thought that that would happen next year.”

What may also irk the five-time F1 race winner is suggestions by Horner that Verstappen should build Red Bull around him, but Ricciardo insists on a competitive level, the team is not favouring the 20-year-old.

"As far as media goes, he certainly gets a lot of attention, not that I'm trying to take that away, that's just how it works," he said on the star power Max has. "He's broken a lot of records for his age and things like that so... rightly so.

"Take the media out of it, as far as things inside the team go… with new parts, things like this… there are no parity issues."

Both race winner Lewis Hamilton and second-placed Sebastian Vettel admit they were surprised at the lack of pace the German was able to extract from his Ferrari, with the latter conceding the Briton was simply too fast.

Another major battle between the two championship contenders appeared on the cards at the United States Grand Prix, particularly when Vettel would take the lead from the Mercedes into Turn 1 at the start.

But the recent superiority of the Silver Arrows allied to Hamilton's own incredible pace around the Circuit of the Americas meant the Scuderia driver's lead would last a handful of laps before the triple world champion made his move into Turn 12 and went on to take a relatively comfortable win.

"One of the most fun races I've had for a while," Hamilton, who is now on the brink to securing a fourth Formula 1 title this weekend in Mexico, declared afterwards. "I didn't get away to a great start, Seb got a great start but I was chilled about it as I know you can overtake here.

"It was great having that battle, trying to keep up, stay close, get within DRS. It was very reminiscent of 2012 here, seeing Seb up ahead and wanting to have that real battle.

"That is what I looked for and that is what I enjoyed the most. I was a bit surprised Seb didn't defend more, but it was still fair."

Vettel too claimed the inability to maintain a stronger fight was a larger disappointment than the further damage to his title aspirations, with him needing to outscore Hamilton by 17 points to carry the fight on to Brazil.

“I'm not really thinking so far ahead, but it's clear it doesn't really look good, especially if you finish behind,” he commented. “I guess right now I'm just disappointed we didn't have the pace.

“I was expecting to be more competitive, especially in the first stint with the first set of tyres. After that, I think it was not so bad, but then we had a different race on our plate where it was more defensive and trying to do something different, also defending against Max in the end and cover him, cover for an eventual Safety Car.

“Obviously we were far away from winning at that point.”

Though Vettel would try several ideas to try and at least keep Hamilton guessing, he conceded nothing could have put him in a position to win.

“There was no real secret other than they were quicker than us so I think we have to admit that today in the race we couldn't go their pace," he said. "I don't think it's down to strategy, whoever is fastest usually has a good chance of winning.

“Obviously it was close after the first stop again (after trying the undercut) but then I was stuck behind again and obviously towards the end we decided to pit again, to get a fresh set of tyres which yeah, was a bit more exciting the last couple of laps.

‘Overall, not the result that we wanted.”

Sebastian Vettel will use a different chassis for the remainder of the United States Grand Prix weekend, after a mysterious issue cost him significant running during Friday practice in Austin.

The German, who needs a top five finish to ensure the championship carries on for at least one more week to Mexico, was the third quickest man in Practice 2 at the Circuit of the Americas, but would not complete any significant long runs after returning to the pits with a strange feeling at the front of his Ferrari.

Though far from ideal as rain also caused some disruption in the morning, Vettel insists there is no immediate cause for concern going into the weekend based on the pace shown when out on track.

“It was a messy afternoon and not an easy session but the car is quick so we don’t need to worry,” he claimed.

“The main thing was that Kimi did some running so I think we got enough information but obviously I didn’t get too many laps so I need to find the rhythm tomorrow but as I said the car is quick so I am not too worried. We just need to make sure we get everything in order then it should be a good day.”

Just as frustrating, the issues meant Vettel and Ferrari couldn't complete a full assessment of the hefty upgrade package that has been brought for this weekend.

Explaining exactly what happened in the afternoon, which restricted the four-time world champion to just the qualifying simulation on the Ultrasoft tyre, he continued: “Before I probably took too much risk earlier in the session and lost the rear into Turn 19, it has been quite slippery there all day, it was my mistake.

“We lost a set of tyres but in the end I felt something was not right with the car so we came in a couple of times to check and then go out to double and triple check. We are looking into it to try to see something."

The introduction of a new chassis was later confirmed with no immediate cause found for the looseness that he reported over the radio, that car will have to be scrutineered before Vettel can head out on track for Practice 3 on Saturday.