Wolff warns Red Bull: 'Now tracks that should make the car happier'

Toto Wolff is pleased to see the Mercedes upgrades working on the Circuit of the Americas but reveals the team are still 'in pain' because they're not winning. Lewis Hamilton got closer to Max Verstappen and the race victory in the United States Grand Prix but the Dutchman proved too strong.

Hamilton was in the mix strategically for the race win. Whereas McLaren reacted to Verstappen's first pitstop, Hamilton was left on the circuit as they thought out pushing to a one-stop. Team boss Wolff shed some light on the situation and the feeling inside the Mercedes camp.

"It's a hate-losing race, and the whole team is in pain. Hindsight is a tough thing. You can say we should have covered Max, but we had the quicker car at that stage but we didn't know, so dragging it out to a one-stop was a valid thing at that stage. But then we lost so much time over two laps. That's what lost the race. We were on Lap 19 or 20 and needed to extend to 23 to make the one-stop stick. We knew we needed four more laps for a one-stop and he was 20 seconds behind us but then the tyre dropped and we lost the gap," Wolff told Sky Sports after the race.

Mercedes have made gains, and Wolff went on to explain the difference between COTA and Suzuka: This is a circuit where a few races [ago we] wouldn't have performed because it's those fast, sweeping corners where we were miserable in Suzuka. We were well here. Now we're going to a few tracks that should make the car happier".