Wolff: No Silver Bullet just a lot of hard work

At the Japanese Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton led a Silver Arrows one-two, the fourth of the season so far, with Lewis Hamilton heading home Valtteri Bottas at Suzuka on Sunday.

Wolff said after the race, "It started off well, as a driver if you have that confidence and are able to push it hard and you feel the car responding, then you are able to achieve it."

While Mercedes have made their occasional strategy gaffe, the few errors they have made have not been as glaring or destructive as their rivals Ferrari and their driver Sebastian Vettel who have literally imploded in the crucial latter half of the season.

Wolff explained, "We try to provide a safe place in our team. You are allowed to make mistakes and call them out and it means you’re not scared for your job and can feel comfortable."

"In our Monday morning meeting we start with what mistakes we’ve made over the weekend to get them out, and it means that people like James (Vowles, Chief Strategist) can say what they need to, when they need to."

"The step we’ve made since Spa is good. We enjoy doing what we do, we like the pressure and embrace it. There's no better job than to race and have the lap times to improve it, we are a close knit of people."

"I think it's important to re-invent yourself as a team and set new objectives, we have ambitious targets, we haven’t won either of the championships yet but we’re still working towards it."

As reported Mercedes dominated qualifying and the race in Japan, untouchable on a weekend when Ferrari needed to win to keep the title race alive.

Looking back on Suzuka, Wolff said, "That was a very tense Grand Prix for us. It might have looked pretty smooth from outside but within the team we were managing blisters in the tyres, some driveability issues with Lewis' power unit and very competitive Red Bulls behind us."

"So to take a 1-2 for the second race in a row is pretty special - not just for the trackside team here after a tough back-to-back, but for everybody back in Brackley and Brixworth who have poured their efforts into developing this car and power unit."

"There hasn't been a single silver bullet - just a lot of hard work, creativity and a mind set to channel the pressure of the competition and keep pushing hard to achieve our objectives."

"The approach will remain the same in the coming races: we will not let up one single bit when it comes to bringing more performance to the car, and keep taking everything day by day. It has been an important week for the team and we have come out of the challenges we faced even stronger than before."

"From here, every race is like a mini-championship and we need to keep aligning our race weekends in the same way we achieved in Sochi and Suzuka," added Wolff.

With four rounds remaining the championships are all but decided, with Hamilton leading the drivers' standings by 67 points and Mercedes topping the constructors' standings by 78 points.