Wolff finds Mercedes comeback no guarantee: 'Competition is strong'

Russell has had a strong first season at Mercedes. Not only did he manage to win a race for the first time - and the only race Mercedes won this season - he also managed to beat his teammate Hamilton. Russell finished the championship fourth, Hamilton sixth. It is quite rare for Hamilton to be beaten by a teammate. It happened only three times before, most recently in 2016 when Hamilton had Nico Rosberg as a teammate.

According to Wolff, it is completely irrelevant to the team which of the two drivers has done best this season. " The fact that George beat Lewis does not matter," the team boss said. "It is much more important that they did not race for the title and that they did not race for wins, apart from Brazil. I don't think it is important for anyone in the team to finish second, third, fourth or fifth."

'Not sure we will compete for the title again next year'

Despite Mercedes not being able to compete for the title this year, the second half of the season did see a marked improvement in the team's performance. Wolff acknowledged that the team simply wasn't good enough this year, although he still couldn't resist taking a dig at the 2021 season finale in his analysis.

"Last year was much worse because it was taken away from us, but this year we lost it on merit," Wolff said. "We were not good enough. I am not at all sure we will be able to compete for the championship again next year. It has to be recognised that the competition is strong, but we will do everything we can to set our goals and try to achieve them."