While Lewis Hamilton was celebrating a fifth Formula 1 crown, his Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was composing himself after a tough afternoon in Mexico.
The Austrian watched on from the garage as both his drivers cruised home in the final laps conceding both Red Bull and Ferrari had the edge at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.
Tyres were the main problem as Hamilton suffered graining almost throughout as Valtteri Bottas would finish a lap down in fifth after three pit stops.
“I didn’t say anything to him [Lewis on the cool-down lap] because I was too upset over our race performance that I needed to get myself together again,” he told Sky Sports.
“It’s a fantastic title and I’m so happy for Lewis and the team [but it’s] a bit bittersweet. We had a very bad race and we truly need to understand it, but we should be happy about the championship.”
It is the second straight year Hamilton has won the title in Mexico but not stood on the podium after first lap contact with Sebastian Vettel only saw him finish ninth in 2017.
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That trend of somehow only doing what’s necessary in title-deciding races is something Wolff wants to address.
“We’ve seen it with other teams too. It’s about finishing in a certain position and you can see everyone seems to struggle,” Toto claimed.
“We had the same situation in DTM. When you look at F1 and past championships, it’s always like this.”
With Ferrari second and third, it means the gap in the teams’ championship reduced to 55 points with a possible 86 left at the final two rounds.
“The Drivers’ is the one that’s really important for the visibility, but the Constructors’ is still out there and we need to perform well in Brazil,” Wolff concluded.
