Toto Wolff says he is proud of everyone involved with the Mercedes AMG Motorsport team after Lewis Hamilton secured his sixth World Drivers’ Championship in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix.
It is Hamilton’s fifth title with Mercedes, and it came despite the Briton settling for second to team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the Circuit of the Americas, with Wolff heaping praise on everyone for the achievement of taking both the title and race win on the same weekend.
“I’m so proud of everyone – what an incredible achievement!” said Wolff. “There’s a massive amount of work behind the scenes to secure a result like this, where one driver claims the Championship and the other one wins the race.
“A massive thank you to everyone who contributed to this – here at the track, back at home in Brackley and Brixworth, at Daimler in Stuttgart and at PETRONAS in Kuala Lumpur.”
Wolff says taking a sixth world title is a remarkable achievement for Hamilton, and it is always clear that the Briton is motivated to go for the best result possible every weekend. He also felt Niki Lauda, who sadly passed away earlier this year, would also be proud of what was achieved in 2019.
“Taking his sixth drivers’ title is a truly remarkable and special achievement,” admitted Wolff. “You can see how motivated Lewis still is, he wants to win every race and get the best result possible.
“It’s not been an easy year, with tough competition and the loss of Niki. I’d like to think Niki’s looking down on us, tipping his cap after today’s result.”
Looking back at Sunday’s race, Wolff said Bottas drove faultlessly throughout to take his fourth victory of the season and secure second place in the Drivers’ Championship at the same time. The Finn was able to make a two-stop strategy work to take the win ahead of Hamilton, who had attempted a one-stop strategy of his own to climb from fifth on the grid.
“Valtteri drove an absolutely faultless race today, he has been on incredible form all weekend and he thoroughly deserved the victory,” said Wolff. “Lewis fought back in style and put in a great drive to go from P5 to P2.”
