Hamilton: Red Bull just a little bit too quick

Mercedes brought upgrades to Austin, and while in qualifying the gap to the top was still considerable, but in the race the Silver Arrows were in a good place, and a botched pit stop by Red Bull meant Hamilton was leading the race with a chance to win.

However Verstappen had other plans and blitzed his was back to the front overtaking the seven-time Formula 1 Champion with a few laps to spare.

Hamilton reflected on his race; he said: "I'm shattered. It felt amazing to be in the lead, but the car was a handful today.

"We came here with upgrades, and we closed the gap a little bit. It was so close, and I did everything I could to try and stay ahead, but Red Bull were just a little bit too quick," he added.

"We've been working so hard as a Team over this year, and there are lots of positives from this race, as a team we showed great pit stop and strategy performance. I'm also happy with my performance and it was showing when we have a competitive car, I can bring it home.

"So we'll keep pushing and we'll try and give it everything we can over the next three races - it'll come to us at some stage," the Briton concluded.

George Russell continued to struggle relative to his teammate, and qualified sixth for the race but started fourth after grid penalties for Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.

He finished the race fifth after receiving a five-second penalty for taking out Carlos Sainz on Lap 1 of the race.

"It was a difficult afternoon for me - very unfortunate," Russell reflected. "How things unfolded at the start as I don't want to be in a position where I contribute to another driver having to retire.

"It's probably the furthest we've been away from the midfield and the closest we've been to the front for quite a while so a good step forward this weekend.

"The team back at the factory are doing a great job continuing to update the car, trying to make it a little bit lighter and understanding what we need to work on for next year and that's where most of our focus currently is.

"Obviously, I want to get back on the podium, because the last time feels like an age ago," Russell went on. "We had such a good run of form, but the last couple of races didn't go well in terms of my personal performance.

"Truly fighting for race wins is still the goal for us. Even if we don't achieve a race win, we want to be in a position where we have a chance to fight for the win," he concluded.

Toto Wolff reflected on the race congratulating Red Bull for winning the Constructors' Title; he said: "First, congratulations to Red Bull and to Honda for winning the Constructors' Championship; given the sad news yesterday about Dietrich Mateschitz, it was fitting that they should secure the title today."

Weighing in on Mercedes' race, he added: "From our side, this weekend was a step forward for us and we showed encouraging performance. No doubt, Red Bull are still ahead of us, but I think we're getting closer to them and Ferrari - and that's a positive outcome for us.

"We brought an upgrade to Austin and we've seen that reflected in terms of car performance. Obviously, an unfortunate start for George, colliding with Carlos, which I would classify as a racing incident.

"Lewis had a strong race today and was giving it everything. He had a tyre deficit on the Hard because he simply didn't have any Mediums to choose and still holding on to a potential win felt feasible at that stage, but once Max was past Charles and he couldn't fight back, it was just a matter of time," the Austrian explained.

"Next up is Mexico, which we're looking forward to and hopefully can continue to show our performance. On paper, this should be a track that suits our car, but as we've learned this season, it can be a bit unpredictable where we actually stand in reality," Wolff concluded.