Toto Wolff heaps praise on Marcus Dudley for standing in for Peter Bonnington

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has hailed the "phenomenal" Marcus Dudley for his performance as he replaced Peter Bonnington as Lewis Hamilton's race engineer at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Bonnington, A.K.A Bono, missed the race in Mexico and will also miss this weekend's race in America, as he is recovering from a medial procedure. With Bonnington absent, Hamilton's performance engineer Dudley, stepped up.

Hamilton drove a tremendous race in Mexico, but was complaining on the team radio that he had pitted too early for his one-stop strategy and ended up racing for 48 laps on the hard compound tyres. However, the five-time world champion, aiming to make it six, did win the race as a brilliant drive kept the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel behind.

"Phenomenal job, not easy (from Dudley)," Wolff said to Motorsport.com. "Also managing Lewis in the race. It shows we have a strength, a deep strength in the team, and Bono stepping aside for one race and handing over the baton, Marcus did a really good job together with Dom."