Mercedes must ensure they don’t “drop the ball” after taking advantage of Ferrari’s slip up in Singapore on Sunday, according to chief Toto Wolff.
The night race at Marina Bay threw up plenty of surprises with poor conditions playing a huge part in the title race on Sunday.
Mercedes struggled through qualifying and started the main event with Lewis Hamilton in fifth and team mate Valtteri Bottas in sixth, while rivals Ferrari had Sebastian Vettel on pole.
Red Bull tend to enjoy the Singapore track and that was also a theme throughout qualifying as Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo secured second and third on the grid respectively.
However, with the rain coming down at the start of Sunday’s showpiece the advantage was thrown in Mercedes’ direction.
Vettel and team mate Kimi Raikkonen collided with Verstappen on the first turn and subsequently all three were ruled out of contention.
Hamilton took control right from the start and managed to avoid getting caught up in the incident as he blazed past the pack and never looked back.
The Brit went on to claim his seventh win of the campaign and opened up a 28-point lead over Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship with six races remaining.
Despite seeing Hamilton open up a decent gap at the top of the standings Wolff insists this is not the time for the Silver Arrows to ease off.
Wolff said: “We mustn’t drop the ball. “We just need to continue and get on with the job. “There’s lots of time for cheering when we’ve actually done it.”
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