Toto Wolff: 'Red Bull are still ahead of us, but I think we're getting closer'

Max Verstappen won the race for Red Bull and was followed home by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc in third spot.

The Mercedes team introduced a final upgrade to their 2022 car ahead of the race, which clearly gave them more pace but they were just not able to match that of 'flying Dutchman' Verstappen.

In an interview after the race, Wolff gave his take on things, and 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.

"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 (Russell), colliding with Carlos (Sainz), which I would classify as a racing incident," Wolff said.

"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 next F1 race will be the Mexico Grand Prix this upcoming weekend, and Wolff said they were looking forward to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez as the track suited their car.

"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 added.