Mercedes celebrates fourth consecutive constructors title

Lewis Hamilton might still have a little way to go before he clinches the drivers championship, but Mercedes have already successfully sealed the constructors title for the fourth season in a row.

"I'm so happy. The gang in Brackley and in Brixworth have done a fantastic job," a jubilant Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 after the team won the United States Grand Prix on Sunday.

"[We] have a good spirit within the team and we enjoy coming to work," the Mercedes team boss continued. "This is what we do.

You stick to your values and have a clear objective and a passion for what you do. Responsibility and accountability, it all comes together. This is what makes this place so special at the moment.

"In years where you are competitive, everything just needs to come together. The right group of people, the right resource, and also the right mindset."

The battle with Ferrari and Red Bull has seemed a lot closer this season than in previous years. But Wolff said that this was to be expected, and predicted more tough seasons ahead.

"We had some really good years with a little bit of a power unit advantage," he said. "Now everybody has closed up, and you can see that Red Bull is very much there at the end.

"This is the new reality and this is how it's going to go until the end and I guess next season."

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Wolff was reluctant to single out anybody for particular praise, saying it had been an all-round team effort. However, Hamilton deserved a special mention for his contribution.

"Lewis is really at the top of his game at the moment," said Wolff. "Since the summer he's made no mistakes, been quick on Saturdays, and today his management of the tyre was great.

"But I wouldn't pick him out because it's really the effort of the whole group that's achieved that - made the car quick, made it reliable - and he has been just perfect in the execution."

The work of the team's technical director James Allison had also been vital to the team's campaign this season.

"With James, he's like my total opposite twin brother!" Wolff laughed. "He's so different, comes from the other spectrum, but we have the same thinking and the values and it's just fantastic to work with him."

"It's a huge privilege," said Allison, who joined Mercedes at the start of the season having previously worked at Ferrari. "I feel very, very grateful to have been allowed to join such a good team and play by part in it.

"What a team. To have won four on the trot like this. To have won across such a massive regulation change, no one's done that before. I'm just very lucky to be there.

"If you want a simple answer [about the difference between Mercedes and Ferrari], just look at the season. The season had been incredibly tightly fought. The margin on average between the cars is fractions of a second. That's why the championship has yoyo-ed backwards and forwards.

"But just over the [whole] season, the strength across every area in this team has exerted the difference. And it is every area," he emphasised

"Just a little bit here and a little bit there has made the difference in what has been one of the most epic, epic championships we've had in many years.

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