Emotional Wolff dedicates Mercedes triumph to Niki Lauda

Toto Wolff dedicated Mercedes' sixth consecutive constructors and driver's championship to the memory of Niki Lauda, as Valtteri Bottas' win in Japan secured another incredible season for the German giants.

Bottas came home in first place and with Lewis Hamilton finishing in third Mercedes are in an unassailable position for the sixth year in a row, with only the order of the two drivers to be decided in the remaining four races.

Speaking to Sky Sports about their achievement, Wolff was keen to reference his legendary former colleague and the role he played in their success.

He said: "We want to dedicate this to Niki because he has been such an important part since the beginning of the journey.

"His sheer presence was always so important, the mixture between support and pressure, he was always such a special person.

"I miss him every day. When we talk in our group of friends, it's surreal that he's not here. I ask myself what would he say, and what would he think. But it doesn't compensate for the loss and that he's simply not here any more."

Wolff added that the main point of motivation for the champions will be to reverse Mercedes' current form, which has saw Ferrari put a real challenge, particularly in qualifying.

He added: "There is a saying, a good horse only jumps as high as it needs to jump, but that is not the case with us. The regulations stay the same and therefore learning on this year's car as is important as developing a new one.

That's the balance you need to strike. We just aren't quick enough on the single lap against the Ferrari at the moment and that's what we need to look at. We struggle to really cope with the non-performance relative to Ferrari at the moment."

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