LH44 poised for title showdown in Mexico

On Sunday after the race in Austin, Lewis said: "The key was that I at least finished ahead of Seb and for me it doesn't matter when you win the championship as long as you get it done. I honestly haven't thought a single thought about the championship last weekend. There was a lot of questions about it and my sole goal was just to win these four races, that's what my mind was set on. Naturally if you do that then maybe you could win the championship in the US, but I was just thinking of doing the best performing weekend I could do."

"Everybody was in the same boat with the lack of running and I think we did a really good job with our decision making and where we got the car to," Lewis added. "The car was in a million pieces on Sunday morning, so it wasn't ideal for the race. Probably if we hadn't had to have a morning like that, our race outcome would have been a bit different potentially."

Meanwhile, Mercedes Head of Motorsport, Toto Wolff said Ferrari's victory in Austin was just another twist in what has already been an exciting season. Toto said: "The US Grand Prix confirmed what we said before the race: This year's championship fight is far from over. While Lewis was able to extend his lead over Sebastian Vettel in Austin, we lost points to Ferrari in the constructors' championship.

"We have a battle on our hands and we will have to keep pushing to win both titles. We cannot be happy with the result in Texas, but it provides us with an opportunity to learn and come back stronger. Our next stop brings us to Mexico City where we will face a very different challenge. The Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez is an outlier given its high altitude and the demands this puts on the cars and power units.

"It has been one of the weaker tracks for us in previous years and we expect a hard fight with Ferrari and Red Bull. The weather forecast predicts conditions similar to those we had in Austin which might throw everyone another curveball by limiting dry running. We know that it is not going to be an easy race, but everyone in the team is focused, motivated and determined to keep the pressure on until the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi.”

Qualifying for the 2018 Mexican Grand Prix goes live on Saturday 27th October, while the main event is scheduled for 19:10 (BST / London) / 13:10 (Local / Mexico City).