Mercedes, not accepting the F1 title, is slipping away

Mercedes entered Sunday’s race at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in hopes of converting their front row lockout into a result to bolster Lewis Hamilton’s championship hopes.

But Red Bull bounced back in the race when Max Verstappen took a dominant win, landing 16 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who held onto second place in the Red Bull sister car, ahead of Sergio Perez.

With this, Verstappen extended his lead in the drivers ‘championship ahead of Hamilton to 19 points, while Red Bull, thanks to its double podium in the constructors’ championship, came within one point of Mercedes.

Since Hamilton did not finish in any of the last three races before Verstappen, the narrow championship lead has turned into a deficit of almost a race win, which has given Red Bull the momentum for the last four races.

Mercedes F1 boss Wolff made it clear that no one in the team would accept the championship slipping away and cited the dominant pace in Turkey as proof of his strength.

“I’m a pretty realistic person, but I love motorsport because anything can happen,” said Wolff.

“None of us will ever leave this track with the mentality that this is going away from us.

“There are still four races to go, four wins to be won and four DNFs to suffer. And we’ll just keep fighting.

“We know we have a great team. Our car was exceptionally good in Turkey. And I think we all have to win.

“But if you look at the arithmetical probability, I would of course rather be 19 points ahead than behind. But it is what it is. “

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

When asked if he felt he had to win in Brazil in order to prevent Verstappen from deducting more than one victory in the overall standings, Hamilton said: “Of course I have the feeling that I have to win every race.

“We need these extra points so as not to lose those points, to try and regain – that was the goal before the last race and the race before and before and here this weekend.

“But you know, they’re just too fast, well [we’re] To give absolutely everything we have, but unfortunately it’s not enough to compete with them at the moment. “

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Mercedes has not only weakened Hamilton’s title hopes in recent weeks, but also a 36-point lead in two races to just one point.

Despite the increasingly positive title prospects for Verstappen, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner made it clear that there was no feeling in his camp that the championship was within reach.

“No, look, there are 107 points left so it’s a long way to go [to go]“, Said Horner after the race in Mexico.

“Reliability will play a crucial role and will maximize it every weekend [with] strategy [and] Pit stops.

“I have to say, the team was flawless today, the drivers did a great job. The strategy was strong and the drivers did a great job, so overall a very strong team performance. “