Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Constructors’ title ‘bittersweet’ - Wolff

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described the manner of Mercedes’ constructors’ title victory as “bittersweet” due to Nico Rosberg’s retirement.

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in the Russian Grand Prix ensured Mercedes took the championship despite Nico Rosberg retiring early on, with Ferrari scoring three points less overall. Speaking before final confirmation of Kimi Raikkonen’s penalty which saw Mercedes secure the title, Wolff admitted the failure for Rosberg - who had taken pole position and was leading the race - took the gloss off the final result.

“It is definitely a bittersweet moment for the team because you don’t want to see one of your drivers retire like Nico did,” Wolff said. “He was in the lead, had a brilliant weekend and then the car fails just because of a minor little thing breaking down. So I’m really sorry for him but obviously happy for Lewis who extended his lead in the drivers’ championship and drove a brilliant race as well.”

And Wolff says Hamilton’s level of dominance in 2015 makes him a worthy champion, with the drivers’ title able to be secured at the next race in Austin.

“Yeah incredibly dominant. He has real momentum and for sure deserves to win yet another title. Then finally he has the same amount of titles as Niki [Lauda] so that’s good for the balance within the team.”

With Raikkonen’s post-race penalty dropping him from fifth to eighth place to hand Mercedes the title, when ask if it is disappointing to win a championship in such a way, Wolff replied: “No, I don’t care.

“As long as we win it whether it’s by penalty or not, we take no prisoners!”

Raikkonen penalty hands Mercedes constructors' title

Hamilton close to title after Russian GP win

AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.