Mercedes'Andrew Shovlin looks back on a frustrating race for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell. For one, the conditions were very difficult and it was impossible to get through the field without the DRS. The Mercedes chief does know where there is room for improvement ahead of the race in Austin.

Hamilton finished fifth at Suzuka and is currently sixth in the championship with 180 points. Teammate Russell managed to finish eighth in Japan and is in fourth place in the standings. Mercedes has yet to win a race with the W13.

In Mercedes' press release, Shovlin begins by complimenting Max Verstappen after securing his second world title. "Well done to Max on the championship, he's driven brilliantly this year." Shovlin further indicated that the weekend was very tough for Mercedes and involved a lot of frustration. "The car had good pace, but we were just stuck behind cars and had no chance of getting through without DRS."

Difficult conditions

The conditions were very difficult, but the Mercedes chief said it was good that the race could still be finished in the end and the fans in attendance could be entertained as a result. He does see one decisive moment in the race."It was when to come in for inters. It looked like the optimum would have been to follow the Safety Car in when we restarted which was surprising given the amount of water on the track."

Eventually there was a double pit stop for both drivers and that cost Mercedes some time at the stops for Russell. "He'd have joined a couple of places further up if we'd waited a lap which would have given him a better chance of being part of the race that Lewis was having with Esteban." Lewis Hamilton also had a frustrating race, according to Shovlin. "He had good pace and we'd opted for a high downforce level expecting rain, but he just couldn't find a way past due to the straight-line speed."

Better car in qualifying

For Mercedes, there are still plenty of things from the past two races that can be improved by giving drivers a better car in qualifying to hopefully start more up front. "We'll be busy for the next week getting ready for Austin and hoping to get ourselves back into a position where we are racing for the podium positions."