Wolff urges Mercedes to stay humble when 'reaching for the stars'

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has insisted the team must "stay humble" while it 'reaches for the stars' after again competing for victory at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Despite issues across the current campaign leaving the Silver Arrows adrift of Red Bull and Ferrari, an upgrade to the W13 in Austin saw Lewis Hamilton put into the fight for victory with Max Verstappen, albeit through a pit stop problem for the Dutchman.

But in Mexico, George Russell and Hamilton would have been near-identical to the double world champion's pole time had it not been for driver error or engine and DRS issues, proving progress had been made.

In the first stint of the race, Hamilton kept speed with his rival only for a poor tyre strategy to ultimately take him out of the fight.

Asked what the potential to win means for the team given its struggles, Wolff replied: “The thing is, we’re racers and at the moment we can kind of see it in front of us.

"We just want to grab it and therefore, there is always a sense of frustration.

“But I absolutely agree we have come from such a long way [back] and here we are.

"We are racing for a win, we are racing for both cars on the podium, the Ferraris are behind us.

"We need to stay humble of what we have achieved while still reaching for the stars.”

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Mercedes simulations say Mexico was best chance for win

Hamilton was only two seconds behind after the first stint was completed but Mercedes switched the seven-time champion to a set of unfavoured hard tyres, allowing Verstappen to amass a 15-second advantage by the end of the race.

On whether this was Mercedes' best chance to win a race before the end of the year, Wolff conceded: “On the simulations, it says yes.

"But we see that tendency, that we are able to compete. I’m really proud with the team of what we did this weekend. We experimented with a lot of things.

“The engine guys have pushed the boundaries really to give us the maximum performance also, so I think it will be a mix between trying the max whilst trying the most for next year.”