Sao

Like Antonelli, team boss Toto Wolff was as focused on the lessons of the day and year as he was on the success.

He reflected on the fact that while Mercedes had dominated the first half of the season, not only have they been caught in the second, but upgrades brought to the car a few races ago did not have the expected effect.

“Look at the last few races,” Wolff said. “We haven’t won.

“Then today at the beginning of the race, Kimi was just storming away. It looked like this could be ours. But the competition has been getting tougher between Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves.

“It’s four teams that can win races and will be challenging for a world championship. And I have no doubt that this is going to be very difficult for us next year.”

Wolff is pleased that Mercedes have found their way back to the front after struggling relatively through what was known as the ground-effect era.

But he says he does not expect this to be the start of another dominant era such as they enjoyed with Lewis Hamilton in the last decade.

“Looking back, those last four years were very difficult between getting it wrong and then kind of understanding why it was wrong and then realising, no, we didn’t understand. And that was a bit back and forth,” he said.

“It wasn’t that bad at all when you look at the sheer numbers, but it felt not good. And the resilience of the team, the people that held together in those tough times is a factor.

“So it feels really good sealing those two titles. Not many sports teams have done that after consecutive run of championships, then a difficult spell and then coming back.

“It looks like the most maybe competitive era that is about to start, because the teams have become so professional in capability, in resource, that this kind of runaway seasons, I don’t see them any more, whether it’s four in a row or eight in a row. And that is a completely new challenge.

“You can see how quickly it goes from being dominant. And within a few races, you realise that your upgrade doesn’t work and you fall back and you’re just third on the road.

“It’s great for the sport. I wished it was the era of Mercedes and me running away with another few championships. I don’t think it’s the reality.”

Russell said he and his team had analysed the season so far and worked out that he has had a trouble-free run in only six of this season’s 20 races.

“These issues constantly keep popping up but unfortunately this always seems like it’s on my side of the garage,” he said.

“We concluded we’ve only had six races from the 20 where we’ve had a clean weekend. So to think 14 of those weekends have had issues is unbelievable.

“We need to look to understand why that is, if there’s something we are overlooking or if it’s just pure misfortune. At the moment it does seem like it’s more misfortune than anything.

“In a normal season you might have two weekends or three weekends where there are issues. We’ve had three quarters of this season and that has been incredibly unfortunate.”

He said it was the fact that he had been struck by another technical glitch that made him skip his media duties after last weekend’s Mexico City race, rather than the fact Antonelli had just won the title.

Russell, who started second to Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari, had a loss of power on the run to the first corner when the electrical part of the power-unit did not reply properly.

He was swamped by the field, and then collided with Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull at Turn Six, earning himself a 10-second penalty. He finished sixth and dropped from second to fourth in the drivers’ championship, behind Antonelli, Max Verstappen and Hamilton.

“In racing you always pick yourself back up and for me the best way to pick myself back up was getting out of there,” Russell said on media day for this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

“It was as simple as that, really. I was just very upset with missing out on the chance of a good result because the championship for me was already over but I just couldn’t believe how things had panned out again.

“In that moment, yeah, I just wanted to get out of there.

“I think I’m 99% of the time a true professional and I try not to spit my dummy out, but sometimes missing out on doing the press – OK, it’s not ideal but not the end of the world.

“Moments like that you don’t really want to deal with it.”

Briton Freddie Slater will have his first experience of a Formula 1 car on a grand prix weekend when he drives for Audi in first practice in Mexico City on 30 October.

The 18-year-old will have a second outing a week later at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

Slater was the first driver to be brought into Audi’s driver development programme following the German company’s entry into F1 this season.

Allan McNish, Audi’s racing director and head of the driver development programme, said: “We have seen Freddie making great progress throughout recent years, both on and off the track.

“It is the right time for Freddie to step up.

“These appearances in Mexico and Brazil will give him valuable experience of a Formula 1 race weekend, and another chance to continue his development before he steps up to Formula 2 next season.”

Slater said: “Getting behind the wheel of an F1 car at a grand prix weekend is a big moment for me and something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid.

“I’ve learned a lot this year, and these free practice outings will be another opportunity to keep gaining on-track experience.”

Slater finished second on his debut in the Formula 3 championship this season and is moving up to Formula 2 in 2027 with the front-running Invicta team.

Invicta driver Rafael Camara is leading this year’s F2 championship and is moving up to F1 next season with the US-based Haas team.