Hamilton reveals how Mercedes improved the balance of his W15 during the race

Having battled with his team-mate George Russell all through the second half of the race, Lewis Hamilton has revealed that a tweak to the front wing of his car completely changed his feeling behind the wheel of his W15.

Mercedes were strong enough in qualifying to secure the third row on the grid, but they were unable to challenge the leading Ferraris and the McLaren of Lando Norris in the 71-lap race.

Lewis Hamilton picked off Russell at the start, but he struggled from understeer on his opening stint which enabled his team-mate to get ahead again.

Mercedes made some vital tweaks to the front wing of his car during his sole pit stop which saw Hamilton display a very impressive performance on the hards.

With Russell having picked up some damage to his front wing, Hamilton managed to close back up to the two-time F1 race winner. After a seemingly never-ending battle, Hamilton managed to find a way past to finish fourth in Mexico.

Reflecting on his race, Hamilton noted: "We ultimately moved forward and brought home good points today for the team. We weren’t looking so racy in the first stint; I didn’t have enough front-wing in the car and was suffering with lots of understeer.

"We were able to improve the balance at our second stop and our pace got better. Even if we had enjoyed that speed in the first stint though, we still wouldn’t have had the pace to challenge those ahead for the podium. P4 and P5 is still slightly better than we predicted today though so we can be pleased with our afternoon.

"This hasn’t been the smoothest weekend for the team, but we’ve gathered a lot of information across both specifications. We can now analyse that data and evaluate the best way forward for next weekend in Brazil and the rest of the season.

"Hopefully we can get the car in a slightly better spot for Interlagos and take the fight to the Ferraris and McLarens."

His team-mate George Russell had a very strong first stint during which he managed to overtake Hamilton. The Briton revealed that he picked up minor damage to the front wing of his W15 while overtaking the McLaren of Oscar Piastri which compromised his speed on his second stint.

He commented: "I had a strong first stint, but I hit a bump as I overtook the McLaren of Oscar Piastri at the start of my second stint and picked up some front-wing damage. It was definitely costing me a couple of tenths a lap in terms of performance which was a bit of a shame.

"We had to do over 30 laps carrying that but even without it, we wouldn’t have had the speed to challenge for the podium. Overall, then, P4 and P5 is likely where we deserved to be today as a team and perhaps a little bit better than we thought going into the race.

Reflecting on the pecking order, the two-time F1 race winner said that while Mercedes have been able to reduce the gap to the reigning champion team Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren have made huge gains recently.

"We will keep working hard to improve as we want to be battling right at the front. We continue to make progress with the car, as you can see with the gap increasing to the teams behind us in the championship.

"We’ve also closed the gap on Red Bull since the start of the season but it’s clear that Ferrari and McLaren have made even more progress. We will use these final four races of the season to continue building our learning, test different things out, and set ourselves up well for next year."