At a wet Interlagos circuit in Brazil, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton finished their practice sessions in P1 and P5.

The drivers completed a total of just 48 laps today, just over half a race distance, in wet conditions at Interlagos.

With further rain forecast, the priority was to save sets of fresh wet tires for sessions later in the weekend.

Both drivers were able to set competitive times in the wet conditions on both types of wet tire.

Nico Rosberg

Today I had a good start into the weekend, and I was very quick in the rain even though we don’t really know about the fuel levels of the other teams. Therefore we need to read the time sheets with some caution. But generally I have higher hopes now that perhaps we can give Red Bull a hard time this weekend. We all know that the weather plays always a big role here at Interlagos and can catch you out. We were not able to run that much but the track feels really great and it was great fun to be out there and find the limit in these difficult conditions.

Lewis Hamilton

The conditions were tricky out there today and it’s a real shame for the fans that they didn’t get to see more action on track. Of course, it’s frustrating for us drivers to be sitting in the garage for so long but I really feel for everyone who has made the effort to come here to the track. We were able to get some running during the two sessions and that will be useful as the conditions for the rest of the weekend look pretty much the same. I’m struggling a little to get the feel of the car in the wet, and that’s really been the same for me with our car all season, so we have some work to do overnight to see where we can make improvements. I’d really prefer a dry weekend but that’s out of our hands.

Ross Brawn

That was an interesting day which could well be relevant for the rest of the weekend – certainly for tomorrow and perhaps even for Sunday. The balance of the car wasn’t too bad on either the intermediate or the full wet tires but, in common with our rivals, we don’t have any data on how it will be in dry conditions. Overall, it was a useful and straightforward day in the context of preparations for the possibility of a wet qualifying session or race.

Toto Wolff

We had two decent sessions today, which further confirmed the tendency already seen this season that our car performs well in mixed conditions. However, the forecast is so inconsistent that we need to ensure we have the right compromise for both wet and dry as we cannot assume it will be a wet race. So we will be working hard overnight to make sure we are in good shape whatever the weather.

Formula 1 racing is coming to America.  The penultimate race of the 2013 Formula One season, the United States Grand Prix, takes place for the second time at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on Sunday, November 17.

Here’s a few points that make the United States Grand Prix Track so special.

• Eight of the circuit’s 20 corners are taken at lateral loads over 3G and nine in fifth gear or higher
• Lewis Hamilton has raced twice at the United States Grand Prix (2007, 2012) and won both times
• Last year’s United States Grand Prix was notable for featuring the fewest pit stops (24) of any race of the year

Nico Rosberg

The first race at the Circuit of the Americas last year was great and it immediately became one of my favourite weekends of the year. The track has a similar layout to Suzuka in the first section and is very fast with good long straights and the DRS zone for overtaking. The big uphill section at the start of the lap is very unique as you’re looking straight up into the sky and then suddenly you’re in the middle of the corner. We’ve built up some momentum over the last couple of races and I hope we can have another good weekend in Austin and maintain our position of second place in the Championship.

Lewis Hamilton

I’m really looking forward to returning to Austin this weekend. I love the States and the first race at the Circuit of the Americas last year was such a great occasion, particularly for me as I was lucky enough to win! The enthusiasm and passion from the fans at the new venue was amazing and it was fantastic to see the support at the track and in the city; Austin is such a cool place. The track itself is a lot of fun and a real challenge to get the perfect lap. The high-speed changes of direction combined with the long straights and slower sections make it quite tricky to find the right set-up and balance. We’re going into the final two races with one aim in mind and that’s to finish second. It would mean so much to everyone at the team and we’re determined to achieve it. Hopefully we can start with a strong weekend and some good points in Austin.

Ross Brawn

Formula One’s return to America last year was a huge success and we’re delighted to be heading back to Texas for our second visit this weekend. The Circuit of the Americas is a fantastic facility which provides a fitting venue and showcase for our sport in a very important market. It was very rewarding last year to see the packed grandstands and experience the welcome that we received in the city of Austin. The final two race weekends of the season are extremely important for our team and the outcome will determine how our season is judged. We’ve gained some momentum from two strong weekends in India and Abu Dhabi which consolidated our position in the Constructors’ Championship but we can’t take anything for granted. Everyone at the team has been and will continue to work extremely hard to ensure that we can outperform our rivals and achieve our goal.

Toto Wolff

As a team, we have built some good momentum in the past two races, outscoring our direct rivals and showing our determination to hold on to second place in the Constructors’ Championship. That’s our clear focus and we have been working hard since Abu Dhabi to see how we can give the drivers a more raceable package for the final leg of the season. Nico will be out to maintain his strong finishing record, after two consecutive podiums, while Lewis showed last year that he is very comfortable on this circuit. It will be an intensely hard-fought weekend for the entire team.

Sunday was a big day in sports, the Red Sox pulled out a win over the Cardinals to tie up the series 2-2, the Packers destroyed their rival Vikings and, well you get the idea.  But, in Mercedes sports news this weekend, the headlines was just as important. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG Petronas driver, finished 2nd at the Indian Grand Prix, just behind a history making Sebastian Vettel who became the youngest F1 driver to win four F1 Drivers titles.  This finish also moved the team back up to second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton finished sixth place after spending most of the race stuck behind the slow Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Driver, Nico Rosberg

Nico Rosberg

A great job from Sebastian today and his fourth title is well deserved. For our team, it was a very important race today. We scored a lot of points and climbed back up to second place in the Constructors’ Championship. I’m quite confident that we can keep that position until the end of the season as the team is doing a great job and our car looks good but it will be a fight. I had good pace today and we really nailed the set-up here. The team did a fantastic job on the strategy and thanks to the boys for that. The only thing which didn’t work out perfectly was when I dropped behind Felipe at the start as it was not easy to overtake him on the track, but then we managed to clear him in the pits. Our target was to be the best of rest this weekend and it worked out perfectly.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Driver, Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton

Massive congratulations to Seb on becoming four-time World Champion today. That’s an awesome achievement and he’s put in some incredible performances this season. I really hope we get to take the fight to him next year! Looking at my race today, it’s great that we got some good points, particularly with Nico’s podium, and that the team are back to second place. The car has been pretty good this weekend but the race was frustrating for me. I tried so hard to get past Felipe but it just wasn’t possible and unfortunately I destroyed my tyres in doing so. Finishing in sixth place is never satisfying but we’ve got three more races and we’ll keep pushing. I’m confident that we can get some more good results to keep the team in second place and we’ll keep fighting to achieve just that.

2013 Indian Grand Prix

Ross Brawn

First of all, congratulations to Sebastian Vettel on winning his fourth World Championship. To win multiple championships as he has done, you must be not just a driver but also a fantastic team member, and he clearly has all the attributes that requires. It’s now up to us to stop him. From the team’s perspective, we scored a very solid team result this afternoon. Nico enjoyed a very, very good afternoon: the strategy worked out perfectly for him and he got all the right breaks, which allowed him to show what the car was capable of delivering. For Lewis, losing position to Massa early in the race proved critical. That meant we were unable to build a gap in the opening stint because we couldn’t run at our natural pace, so as others behind us pitted, we had to anticipate our first stop in spite of having plenty of life left in the tyres. After that point, Lewis didn’t have the straightline speed to pass Felipe and make the most of the core performance of the car. That naturally left him frustrated but shouldn’t overshadow the good work both drivers and engineering teams did this weekend. We gathered a good haul of points today and need to continue to do so in the remaining races.

2013 Indian Grand Prix

Toto Wolff

Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel on his fourth consecutive World Championship. He has done a perfect job since the summer break and this is a richly deserved title. For our Mercedes team, Nico delivered a really good drive today. He showed pace when it mattered and managed the race when it counted. It was great to see him back on the podium. Lewis was compromised on the first lap and we didn’t have the top speed to pass Massa on track today. Clearly, when you are following a car so closely for so many laps, that doesn’t help tyre degradation and that was why he ran out of tyres in the final laps. Taking all of that into account, P6 is still a solid result and contributed more valuable points. We have had a good afternoon compared to our direct rivals today but there is still a long way to go until we can say mission accomplished. There is no complacency and our target will be to deliver another three strong weekends this season.

A challenging Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday saw Nico Rosberg finish the race in eighth position while Lewis Hamilton retired after only seven laps.

• Lewis suffered a right-rear tyre puncture following contact with Sebastian Vettel on the run to turn one

• The damage caused by the lap returning to the pits meant the team retired the car after seven laps

• Nico made his first pit stop on lap 12 and was subsequently given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe release

• He served this on lap 16, suffering a time loss of around 20 seconds in the process

• Nico made two further stops on laps 24 and 39, running option/prime/option/prime, on his way to eighth place

Nico Rosberg

I made a good start today and was in a strong position until my first pit stop. Unfortunately we then had the incident as I left the pit box which ultimately cost me a top position. We will analyse internally with the team what went wrong but it was immediately clear that we would get a penalty. After that, we switched to a three-stop strategy and that worked out as well as it could for us. I was able to do some good overtaking manoeuvres, although I wasn’t happy with Perez as the rules are clear; you can defend once and close the door but you can’t switch sides again. Trying to overtake the Sauber at the end was very tough and while it’s difficult to be satisfied with eighth place given our potential, at least we were able to salvage some points.

Lewis Hamilton

I got a fantastic start this afternoon, better than both Red Bulls for probably the first time this year. Mark moved right, so I had to move as well, which sandwiched Sebastian between me and Romain. Seb’s front wing clipped my right rear, cut the tyre and that was that. It wasn’t his fault at all, just one of those things that wasn’t meant to be this afternoon. I feel most gutted for the team – the guys here at the track and in the factory – because they are doing an amazing job right now and we’re just not getting the reward for it. Looking to the last four races, I will just be going out there to enjoy them and score as many points as I can for the team. I still believe that second in the Constructors’ Championship is in our reach if our luck takes a turn for the better and that’s what we will all be aiming for.

Ross Brawn

A tough afternoon for us which was made more frustrating by the fact that we had a good car today and unfortunately did not get the opportunity to demonstrate that. Our lap times were pretty competitive and the tyre durability was good but for various reasons, we weren’t able to race well. We suffered a puncture with Lewis off the line and, whilst he managed to recover to the pits, the damage subsequently proved too great to continue. With Nico, we had the issue with the pit stop which led to the drive through penalty. We’re normally a pretty reliable team in the pits and I don’t fully understand what happened yet but we will investigate and take any necessary actions. The team has worked extremely hard over the past two weeks and I still believe we have the potential to finish the season in second place in the Constructors’ Championship but we have to use the potential of the car to the full in the four remaining races to achieve that aim.

Toto Wolff

That was a character-building afternoon for our team. Lewis suffered an unfortunate racing incident on the run down to turn one and had to complete an entire lap with a punctured right-rear tyre. That seriously damaged the underfloor of the car and it became clear soon after he went back out that the rear brake temperatures were climbing and the car pulling to the right. So the only sensible precaution was to retire the car after seven laps. As for Nico, he drove a strong race but his finishing position was dictated by the drive-through penalty that he received for an unsafe release at his first pit stop. After that, he recovered well to finish in eighth position and salvage four points.

The Singapore Grand Prix takes place at the 5.065 km Marina Bay Circuit and is the only night race in all of Formula One. Taking place this Sunday, September 22, the night race is easily one of the favorites on the F1 calendar.

A look at past races in Singapore

• Each previous Singapore Grand Prix has featured at least one Safety Car deployment, with a total of eight in five races
• The average corner speed of 135 km/h is one of the season’s lowest, with 17 of the 23 corners taken at 150 km/h or less
• The average elapsed time of the past five races has been 1hr 58mins, 1.5 times longer than that of Monza

Nico Rosberg

The Singapore Grand Prix is a fantastic occasion and the whole weekend has one of the best atmospheres of the year. For the drivers, it is one of the toughest races from a physical perspective as there are so many corners and no long straights where you can relax. It’s also a very long race which runs close to the two-hour time limit. The chicane has been removed for this year which I’m pleased about, and the track should suit our car so I hope we can have a good weekend there. My best finish in Singapore to date has been second place back in 2008 and, of course, I would love to improve on that!

Lewis Hamilton

I have always really enjoyed the Singapore Grand Prix weekend and the unique ‘night’ timetable that we have to follow there. It certainly makes a change from the usual race weekend and it’s actually very easy to do if you plan your sleeping and eating patterns well. As a street circuit, the Marina Bay track layout really suits my style. It’s quite a testing circuit and you need to work the car hard the whole way round the lap to make the most of the tight corners and braking zones. We’ve had a tough couple of weekends in Belgium and Italy but I know that everyone at the team is determined to bounce back from here and make the most of the opportunities over the last seven races of the season.

Ross Brawn

With seven races left of the Formula One season, we start the season-ending flyaway races in Singapore. The Singapore Grand Prix is always a fantastic weekend for Formula One and provides a great spectacle for the fans in the city and the viewers on global television. It’s become a highlight of the calendar for many and the challenge of working late under the floodlights is enjoyed by the teams and drivers alike. The Marina Bay track layout is tricky, one of the slowest circuits on the calendar, and the punishing heat and humidity provide an extra challenge for the drivers and cars. There has been a lot of hard work at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth since the summer shutdown and the developments that we have found will be introduced during the upcoming flyaway races. Whilst our design and development priorities are naturally increasing towards our 2014 efforts, our aim is to extract the maximum from the car we are racing and regain our second position in the Constructors’ Championship. This will require a big effort from the team combined with consistent points finishes from Nico and Lewis.

Toto Wolff

This weekend’s race in Singapore begins a gruelling series of seven races in ten weekends for the team and we are all focused on regaining some of the momentum we lost at the past two races. We expect the return to maximum downforce configuration to suit our car and we may see another shift in the competitive order between the teams. Singapore is a highlight of the Formula One calendar, with its unique setting and night race format, and provides the cars and drivers with tough tests of reliability and concentration during a race which usually lasts the full two-hour time limit. We will bring new developments to the car once again for this race and we are all focused on maximising the opportunities for both Lewis and Nico, in order to re-establish ourselves in second position in the Constructors’ standings.

Mercedes AMG Petronas drivers, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, finished the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in sixth and ninth places Sunday.  Nico finished 6th after running a one-stop strategy (option/prime) and pitting on lap 26.  During that stop, the team delivered the race’s fastest pit lane time of 24.079 seconds.

Unfortunately, Lewis suffered a slow right-front puncture on his first set of prime tires that forced him to make an early stop on lap 13, forcing the team  to convert to a two-stop strategy with Lewis pitting again on lap 38 – fitting options each time. On the charging drive that followed, Hamilton set the fastest lap of the race in 1:25.849 on lap 51 on his way to finish 9th.  His afternoon was further complicated by a total radio failure that meant he relied on his pit board for communication

A tough afternoon saw the team drop to P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, three points behind Ferrari

Nico Rosberg

This hasn’t been one of our best weekends and it feels like everything was a little compromised from the outset. It’s a real shame as the pace of the car looked really good in the race but we weren’t able to take full advantage because of the issues from yesterday. It’s so important here to feel comfortable with the set-up and I wasn’t able to get the car as I wanted after losing the time in third practice. I tried everything to overtake Nico for the extra place today but he was very quick at the end and it didn’t work out. Now we’ll look forward to Singapore in a couple of weeks. I love street circuits so hopefully that will be a better weekend for us.

Lewis Hamilton

That was a difficult weekend for me but these things happen and you have to say that it’s been a good year so far. I gave it my all out there today; the pace of the car was great but unfortunately we paid the price for not qualifying far enough up the field. My radio failed right at the start of the race and it’s really tough when that happens as you rely on the advice and information from the team to manage your race. I didn’t even know about the slow puncture until after the race so now it makes more sense why we had to make the extra stop. I did have some fun this afternoon, particularly fighting with Kimi. It’s just tough fighting so far down the field when our car was clearly really quick. We’ll keep pushing together as a team and I know that we’ll bounce back for Singapore. We’ll be giving it everything to make up for this weekend with a stronger performance there

Ross Brawn

In the end, that was a frustrating race because we had a very quick car today. We can never be certain what Vettel’s ultimate pace could have been at the front of the field but we saw Fernando and Mark fighting hard for second place and our drivers were matching their pace all the time. Lewis’ slow puncture in his first stint obviously compromised his strategy by forcing us to make two stops. But he drove a fantastic fighting race, complicated by the radio failure, and got everything out of the car this afternoon to climb back to P9. With Nico, we have the frustration that he found himself stuck behind a slower car in terms of lap time that was too quick at the critical parts of the lap to be able to overtake. It’s a disappointing result and this weekend reminds us that we need to be on top of our game at all times if we want to maximise our potential. But this afternoon also suggested that we have a competitive car.

Toto Wolff

Our afternoon was compromised by our starting positions, which resulted from yesterday’s problems, and further difficulties in the race. Nico found himself stuck behind the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and although we were quicker over the lap, we didn’t have the speed to make a pass when it counted. Lewis’ slow puncture forced him to make an extra pit stop. After that, he showed everybody just how quick the car was and that gave a glimpse of what might have been this afternoon. But we can’t take comfort from what might have been. The result was P6 and P9, well beneath the standards we set ourselves. We now need to focus on delivering on the car’s potential in the next races.

Mercedes AMG Petronas driver’s Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg scored a combined 27 points secured at the Belgian Grand Prix Sunday, finishing third and fourth at Spa-Francorchamps.

Hamilton started off in pole position but was passed in the first lap by Red Bull’s Sebastion Vettel, who would go on to finish first. Starting 9th on the grid, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso raced past the pack including Hamilton to finish 2nd. Holding off the rest of the pack and running a two-stop strategy, Hamilton finished the Belgian grand prix in third, scoring enough point to put him in third place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Nico, running the same two-stop strategy, finished just behind his Mercedes teammate for a fourth place finish, holding off the relentless Mark Webber.

With Hamilton and Rosberg’s successful finishes, they hold on to second in the Constructors’ Championship.

Mercedes AMG Petronas driver, Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. The win marked his first time being first on the podium as a Silver Arrow driver and his 22nd career victory. Landing on the podium alongside Hamilton was Kimi Räikkönen from Lotus-Renault in second and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in third and fourth.

Lewis Hamilton victory at 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix

• Lewis’ win was the 13th Formula One win for a Silver Arrow and the third victory in five races for the team

• Lewis’ fourth win at the Hungaroring also took the tally of wins for Mercedes-Benz F1 engines to 99

• Lewis completed three pit stops on laps 9, 31 and 50, running option/prime/prime/prime

• Nico tangled with Felipe Massa in turn 5 on lap one and dropped to P12

• He also made three stops but retired with an engine failure on lap 65

• Lewis’ victory strengthened the team’s second position in the Constructors’ Championship at the season’s halfway point

Lewis Hamilton

What a great weekend! We really didn’t expect this when we came here this weekend and I said last night that I would need a miracle to win today. Well, just maybe they do happen. The team called the strategy and the pit stops just right and then it was just about managing the gap. I had some racing to do out there, though, with Jenson and Mark and I think we had the pace on everyone today. The team has just done an exceptional job: we have worked so hard to understand these tyres and we got the balance spot on today. I am very hopeful this could be a real turning point for us as we coped with these high track temperatures. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone at the team here and at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth. Team work achieved this result today and I really couldn’t be happier.

Lewis Hamilton Hungarian Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg

Today was a great day for the team, for Lewis and a brilliant job by everyone here at the track and back at our factories. Unfortunately my weekend didn’t go quite so well and it’s a shame that we couldn’t have had a two-car finish today. I got a good start but then Felipe and I came together on the first lap which was unfortunate as I was in front and had left some space for him but his front wing hit my rear tyre. That cost me a lot of positions and it’s really difficult to make the places back up on this track. Then my day came to an early conclusion with the engine failure. However there are lots of positives for us to take as a team from this weekend and now I really look forward to the upcoming races as we know that we have a quick car and we made the new tyres work for us this weekend.

Ross Brawn

We went into this race not really knowing where we stood in terms of tyre performance and behaviour but as the race unfolded, it became clear that we were able to stay competitive with both cars and drivers. Lewis drove an absolutely perfect race and didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon. He was able to race aggressively and keep the tyres alive to make our strategy work. Nico was unfortunate to get tangled up with Massa on the first lap and then suffered an engine failure, which was a little worrying in the closing laps as we hadn’t seen any signs of overheating. Overall, this has been a very encouraging weekend. In extremely hot conditions, we maintained our Saturday afternoon competitiveness on Sunday afternoon and it certainly feels like we have made a good step forward today. Now we need to get our heads down before the well-deserved two-week shutdown so that we arrive in Spa as well prepared as we possibly can.

Toto Wolff

What an outstanding drive from Lewis this afternoon – he got a clean getaway and then executed the race strategy perfectly, including some really strong and aggressive overtaking moves when he needed to. He did a great job, just like the team with six clean pit stops for our drivers and the right race strategy. Nico lost positions on the first lap tangling with Felipe and then was making up places when his engine failed near the end of the race. That gave us a nervous few closing laps but we were able to bring Lewis’ car home safely. We came into this weekend with a lot of discussion over how the new tyres would affect us. We did our homework in practice, found the right set-up and managed to take a good step forward this afternoon with how we managed the tyres in race conditions. It is only halfway through the season and our rivals have been consistently competitive while we have experienced some ups and downs in the first ten races. Our target for the second half of the year must be to consolidate our performance and deliver this kind of speed consistently. We are still the underdogs right now but we are on an upward trend and we will keep working hard. Thank you to everyone at our factories back in Brackley and Brixworth for their hard work and enjoy a well-deserved summer break. Congratulations as well to our customer sport team-mates who took victory for Mercedes-Benz in the Spa 24 Hours. It’s been a good day for the three-pointed star!

After starting from pole position, Lewis Hamilton finished Sunday’s German Grand Prix on the Nürburgring in fifth place. While it wasn’t an ideal finish for the Brit, it was a big step up from where he was running just 15 laps prior to the finish when he was in 10th. Mercedes AMG Petronas teammate Nico Rosberg finished the race in 9th place after starting the race from the 11th position and dropping as far back as the16th position by the 49th lap.

Nico Rosberg Pit Stop at German Grand Prix

After a dismal first half of the race, Rosberg and Hamilton fought hard to pick up points for the team, two for Rosberg and 10 for Hamilton. While it may not seem like much, these points mean the Mercedes AMG Petronas team will continue to hold onto second place in the Constructors’ standings behind Red Bull and just three points ahead of Ferrari.

2013 German Grand Prix Pit Lane

Lewis Hamilton

That was really a tough race out there for us today. I didn’t have a great start and the Red Bulls were much quicker off the line, dropping me back to third. We really struggled with the second set of tires which then compromised the rest of my race. It’s a real shame as the team are working so hard and doing such a good job. We’ve clearly got a good car but for some reason, it doesn’t work in these hot conditions. We’ll keep working on it and the positive from today is that we were able to recover to fifth place with a good strategy and great pit stops, and we’re still second in the Constructors’ table. Hopefully we’ll have a better chance at the next race but, for now, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.

Nico Rosberg

The car didn’t feel so nice to drive today. We struggled a lot with the rear tires and that’s why we weren’t able to match the pace of the guys in the front. Even so, I had a bit of fun when I changed to the option tires and could really push to at least score a few points. But we need to understand the new tires a bit more because it seems that the new construction has shuffled things around, especially in these hot conditions. We have to do a lot of work in the next weeks to make sure we arrive in Hungary in good shape.

Dieter Zetsche and Ross Brawn at German Grand Prix

Ross Brawn

Our first thoughts today go to the cameraman who was struck by an errant wheel in the pit lane. Happily, he does not appear to have suffered serious injuries but it was once again a reminder of the dangers of our sport and underlines the need for constant vigilance in terms of safety. Today was a race of two halves for us. In the first part, we were once again overstressing the tires – particularly on the prime compound – and our performance fell away as a result. However, as the temperatures cooled off a little and things settled down, both drivers had respectable pace and were able to fight their way back through the field. Lewis and Nico kept pushing until the final lap and were rewarded for their commitment and determination.

At one point it didn’t look like we would come away with much at all from this afternoon, so there has to be a certain satisfaction in saving 12 points today. We have said all along that there is still a question mark over our performance in hotter conditions, and today’s race showed that we still have work to do. We have made big steps forward since Bahrain and Barcelona, where we particularly suffered with hotter track temperatures, and our performance was much improved compared to those races. But we have not yet done enough to convert our Saturday pace into race-winning speed in all conditions on Sunday. The three-week break until Hungary will give us an opportunity to think about how we can make further progress on our tire management as well as continuing to develop the core performance of the car.

Toto Wolff

We had a real character-building afternoon here at the Nürburgring. Neither of the drivers could find any grip on the prime tire in the first part of the race and it mirrored similar experiences we have had so far this season. We managed to recover in the second half, though, and our result was pretty respectable in the end given how things looked after the first 30 laps. Well done to both drivers for squeezing the maximum out of the car today. After such a successful weekend in Silverstone, it feels a little bit like a night and day difference for us. We need to get our heads down at the factory, properly analyse our performance and keep working hard because we know that we will see similar temperatures in Hungary to what we experienced here.

Sunday’s 2013 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix at Silverstone was one of the hardest fought races of the season with Mercedes AMG Petronas’ own Nico Rosberg taking home the victory.

Rosberg held onto first place, claiming his second victory of the 2013 season,by staving off Red Bull’s Mark Webber who made every effort to overtake the Mercedes leader. Finishing third was Fernando Alonso for Ferrari, followed by Rosberg’s teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Early on in the race, Hamilton led the race, ahead of Rosberg, until a left rear tire blowout on the eight lap set him back. Just two laps later, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa also had tire failure, then Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne on lap 15, which brought out the safety car, followed by the final blowout of the day by McLaren’s Sergio Perez on the 46th lap.

It was these blowouts along with the a safety car on lap 41, a very well timed pit and excellent defensive driving that gave Rosberg the advantage in Sunday’s race.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Race Overview:

• Nico took his third career win this afternoon, the 12th for a Mercedes car and the 98th for a Mercedes engine in F1

• Lewis led the first eight laps from pole; after a tire failure, he dropped to last place and then fought back to P4

• Both drivers started the race on option tires and then ran prime tires for the rest of the race

• Nico stopped on laps 12, 34 & 42, the latter stop a precaution owing to a damaged tire, Lewis pitted on laps 8 & 36

• With this afternoon’s result, the team had climbed to second place in the Constructors’ Championship on 171 points

• This total, after eight races, exceeds the team’s total points scored in the entire 2012 season (142)

Driver Quotes:

Nico Rosberg

This is a great moment for me and our team to win in the home of motor racing at Silverstone. We have such great momentum in our Silver Arrows team and I’m very proud to be part of it. This win is for every single person who has been involved in building our car. It was a shame for Lewis today, and I had also a problem with my tire but I was lucky because of the Safety Car. It was so special to win today, especially in front of fellow team members and their families as our factory is only ten minutes away from the track. The race was really exciting. I had to manage the tires really carefully, I was told to avoid the kerbs. At the end, it was difficult to hold Mark and to look after my tires but I was able to keep the position, and take a great victory for us. Now we can look forward to another home race next weekend at the Nürburgring.

Lewis Hamilton

Of course, I’m disappointed by today’s race and I would have loved to deliver the win this afternoon for all the British fans here at Silverstone. The race started so well for us today; I felt comfortable out in front and was managing my pace. The tire problem was such a shame and from then, it was just a case of giving it my all and battling as far up the field as possible. I had some good overtaking moves and, given another lap, I might have got Fernando and ended up on the podium. Everything considered, fourth place is pretty good after having been last on lap 10 and we’ll take that. It’s a great result for the team today, big congratulations to Nico who came through a tricky situation to take the win for us. We’ve now moved up to second place in the Constructors’ Championship which is a nice reward for everyone at the factories just down the road from here.

Ross Brawn

It is a very special feeling to win here at Silverstone and especially at the end of such a dramatic afternoon. Nico didn’t put a foot wrong today: he drove extremely well, looked after the tires like he needed to and was in the perfect place to pick up the pieces when others ran into trouble. It got very tense in the final laps after the second Safety Car period, but Nico showed he had the speed to respond and the composure to bring the car home. It’s his second victory in three races and really deserved. As for Lewis, he showed exactly what he’s made of today. He was driving beautifully at the front of the field and slowing pulling away when he suffered the tire failure. Then he went from dead last on lap nine to fourth at the finish – and he was lapping incredibly quickly with a damaged car in the final laps. I am sure he will take a lot of encouragement for the rest of the season from the basic pace we showed today. But the biggest praise of all must go to our team. We have worked night and day this year to improve this car, solve our tire management issues and put ourselves in a position to take the fight to our rivals. Today, we took another big step in the right direction and perhaps we have turned a corner now. It’s extra special to have done it here at Silverstone, in front of our colleagues, family and friends. Congratulations to the entire team.

Toto Wolff

What a great day for our team. The guys in Brackley and Brixworth have worked so hard in the past weeks and months to deliver this kind of performance, always with the total support and commitment of our board in Stuttgart. Today, we began to deliver on the potential we have shown this year. Both cars were right on the pace all the way through the race and, while we had misfortune with Lewis, we also enjoyed good fortune with the final Safety Car period, which allowed Nico to change a damaged tire without penalty. Nico drove beautifully and Lewis was full of fight and determination to come from the back of the grid to the edge of the podium. Most of all, this is a win for everybody who has worked so hard at our factories to pull us into contention at the front of the field. In a normal race, on a demanding circuit, we were right there in qualifying and all through the race, which is probably the best news from today. So thank you to Stuttgart, to Brixworth and to Brackley. Now we need to keep pushing because we still have a lot more to achieve this season.

Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix was a success for Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Lewis Hamilton, landing on the podium in third behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. While Hamilton sat in second most of the race, he simply didn’t have enough power to hold off the faster car of Alonso.  This marks Lewis Hamilton’s seventh race with the Mercedes AMG team, with Hamilton landing on the podium three times out of those seven. A great start to his career with Mercedes.

Team-mate Nico Rosberg, coming off a win on his home track in Monaco, took fifth place. Rosberg started the Canadian Grand Prix strong, sitting in third place behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton, but wasn’t able to keep pace with the leaders and fell back to fifth position midway through the race. Part of the problem with Nico’s speed was the decision to go with option tires over prime due to the warm track conditions.

Although the focus may have been on Hamilton and Rosberg during the race, Mercedes AMG fans and F1 fans in general are wondering what is going to happen to the team (and more specifically Ross Brawn) after word got out that they had a “private practice” with Pirelli after their poor performance in Spain. Rivals claim the practice between Mercedes and Pirelli was held in secret with both drivers wearing unidentifiable helmets.

The issue isn’t the practice itself, however, it’s the car used during the practice.  Mercedes has admitted using a 2013 car for the test, which is illegal according to the sporting regulations.  As such, Mercedes has been ordered to appear before the International Automobile Federation’s (FIA) tribunal and could face heavy sanctions. Some speculate Mercedes will let team principle Ross Brawn take the fall. Toto Wolff has said that he will stand behind Brawn, but Brawn has already come forward taking credit for the decision to do the test.

Lewis Hamilton

The car felt fantastic today and I had good grip for the low-speed corners but we just weren’t quite on the pace of Seb and Fernando. I was on the maximum that I could possibly drive and we got absolutely everything out of the car today. It would have been nice to have kept second place of course but Fernando was very quick today and it was difficult to keep him behind. I got close to taking the place back but he was just that little bit too fast. Still I’m very pleased with third place and it was a strong points-scoring day for the team with Nico’s fifth place as well. We’ve taken a step up in the Constructors’ Championship which is great for the team and gives us a nice boost going into Silverstone.

Nico Rosberg

I think fifth place was probably my optimum today and, even if my race had gone perfectly, I wasn’t able to match the pace of the guys in front. The guys had a difficult decision to make at the first stop: we were worried about the warm-up of the harder tires, so we went for the option to protect my track position against Webber and Alonso, but in hindsight it would probably have been better to go the other way because I could have run a longer second stint. I scored some good points and we know that there are areas where we can still improve our performance. But looking back to where we were a month ago, we have made some good steps forward, and it was great for Lewis to be on the podium again. We are heading in the right direction and looking forward to the next race at Silverstone, in front of our team-mates from Brackley and Brixworth.

Ross Brawn

It has been rare in recent seasons to have backmarkers become such a factor in a race as they were today. They played a decisive role in the final result but getting through traffic is one of the challenges that you have to tackle in Formula One. The car performed reasonably well but we still had some anxiety about the tyre performance in the high temperatures, so we were managing the situation carefully, particularly in the opening laps of the stints. Lewis drove a very strong race although it was a shame that he could not quite hold on to second position in the closing laps. However, that wasn’t down to him but rather the fact that we still need to find a little more performance from our car to compete with Ferrari and Red Bull. Nico had a reasonably quiet race after a strong first stint and we will have to analyse if we could have made more of the car’s performance today with him. We called him in for a third stop as a precaution, because he had flat-spotted badly the right-front tyre badly and we had nothing to gain or lose in terms of track position. Overall, a positive afternoon and another strong two-car finish that is important for our position in the Constructors’ Championship.

Toto Wolff

Lewis and Nico did a great job on track today and it was nice to see Lewis on the podium again. He tried to hold off Fernando towards the end of the race but the Ferrari was just too quick today. Nico dropped back on the option tyre and our strategy didn’t quite come to him this afternoon unfortunately. Looking ahead, we know that we need to keep bringing performance to the car and that Silverstone will be a bigger test for our tyre management. But it’s the second race in a row that we have had both cars in the top five and that is building a good platform in the championship. Well done, too, to Sebastian and Red Bull today: they didn’t put a foot wrong all afternoon.

Mercedes AMG Petronas driver, Nico Rosberg put on a spectacular show Sunday, winning the Monaco Grand Prix and making history doing it. Rosberg is the only second generation driver to win in Monaco, following in the footsteps of his father Keke Rosberg who won the race in 1983. Growing up in Monaco, the streets where Rosberg dominated the competition for his second career victory, are home to the Mercedes AMG racer.

Teammate Lewis Hamilton finished the race in fourth after after starting the race in second and then losing his positions to Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber during a pit stop that brought in Rosberg and Hamilton together resulting in a position and time loss and for Hamilton. Hamilton fought hard to make a comeback but once the race was delayed with a red flagged on the 48th lap, Hamilton just couldn’t seem to get his momentum back.

Nico Rosberg Wins 2013 Monaco Grand Prix

Weather	Warm and sunny
Temperatures	Air: 18-20°C	Track: 39-44°C

Nico Rosberg

Monaco is such a special place to win and it just feels amazing today. It was my childhood dream to win this race and to do it in a Silver Arrow on the streets where I have lived all of my life is fantastic. I can’t quite believe it has happened yet and it will probably take a while to sink in. Thank you to the team for the car that we had this weekend and it’s good to have been able to show the same level of performance on Sunday and convert our pole position. The whole weekend went pretty much to plan, even though qualifying was tough with the weather conditions. I didn’t have the best start today which meant Lewis and Seb got pretty close but after the first corner, I was able to set my own pace. Then it was just a case of keeping a cool head through all the incidents and the team did a great job of keeping me in touch with what was happening. Thank you to everyone here today and back at the factories in Brackley and Brixworth. I hope this win today is the first of many more to come for us.

Lewis Hamilton Helmet

Lewis Hamilton

It’s been a great weekend for the team and I’m really happy for everyone. Big congratulations to Nico, he’s been awesome all weekend here and really deserves that victory. From my side, this weekend hasn’t really been the best and we didn’t make the most of the opportunity for a one-two finish today. When the safety car came out, I needed to maintain a gap so we didn’t get delayed with the double pit stop but unfortunately the gap was too big and we lost out to the two Red Bulls. That’s motor racing and these things happen sometimes. It’s the tightest track in the world here and virtually impossible to overtake unless you are much quicker than the car in front so there was nothing I could do to improve my position. But it’s great for the team to have achieved our first victory of the season and I hope we can carry through the performance we showed here to Montreal.

Ross Brawn

Congratulations to Nico today. He did not put a foot wrong all weekend, topping every session and driving a very poised and controlled race. He richly deserves this second win of his career. Lewis was running very comfortably in second position until the Safety Car period just before both drivers had made their first stops. The team did a fantastic job all weekend in a challenging qualifying session and a difficult race. But we are all aware, Monaco is not a completely representative circuit. We will take the time this evening to enjoy our success but know that we need to keep pushing to understand how to extract the maximum from our car at every circuit and keep improving further.

Toto Wolff

Nico was dominant not just this afternoon but all weekend. He did everything right from the first lap on Thursday and he really earned this victory. Lewis lost some time in the second sector on his in-lap behind the Safety Car and that cost him position to the Red Bulls, so we need to find out what happened there. As for the team, congratulations to everybody in Brackley and Brixworth. The guys at the track overcame all the obstacles that were put in their way this weekend and the team at the factory have achieved a great step in performance with the car. Now we need to keep pushing so we can repeat this taste of success at different types of circuit through the rest of the season.

Mercedes AMG Petronas driver Nico Rosberg had the top times during both practice sessions in Monaco today with Lewis Hamilton being second fastest driver this afternoon.  If you are not really a Formula 1 fan but a little curious what all the fuss is about, this is the race to watch.

For those of you unfamiliar with the track, pole position is exceptionally important in Monaco, and with the way Nico has been running in the practice rounds so far, he is the clear choice for the coveted P1 grid slot. In the event that Rosberg does go on to win in Monaco like his father KeKe Rosberg did in 1983, he would be the only second-generation winner in the Principality to win. His main competition will come from Ferrari and Lotus who were also running well in Monte Carlo.

• Nico’s fastest time in the afternoon session was one second quicker than the fastest lap in P2 last year
• The drivers completed a total of 154 laps today, equivalent to almost two race distances
• The focus of the sessions was on basic set-up work, circuit familiarisation and tire evaluations
• During P2, Nico and Lewis both completed runs of over 20 laps on the super soft compound

Sunday’s 2013 Spanish Grand Prix belonged to the Spaniards. The F1 race in Barcelona was won by Spain’s own Fernando Alonso from team Ferrari, followed closely by Kimi Räikkönen in second and Felipe Massa in third. Nico Rosberg salvaged a sixth-place finish after starting from pole running but again having tire wear problems. Lewis Hamilton forced to convert to a four-stop strategy during the race and finished outside the points in twelfth position.

Starting off the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix from pole position, Mercedes AMG Petronas’ Nico Rosberg led the race for two laps before being overtaken on the third lap by Sebastian Vettel who would then go on to win the race.  Rosberg battled for fifth position for quite some time before dropping back after contact was made with Mark Webber’s Red Bull car, requiring him to take a fourth pit stop. Rosberg finished respectively in ninth position.

Lewis Hamilton started off the race in 9th position and dropped back as far as 11 in an effort to conserve his tires but truly came alive when he overtook the Webber’s Red Bull car on the 51st lap. Webber managed to take over Hamilton on the 53rd lap, setting up a great to watch side-by-side racing battle  between the two – Webber blocked Hamilton and Hamilton ducked and dived behind him. It was on the very last lap of the race going into Turn 1 with Hamilton on the inside that Webber had to concede to Hamilton ending in a fifth place finish for Hamilton and a seventh place finish for Webber.

• Lewis completed a three-stop strategy to finish in fifth place after starting ninth
• He stopped on laps 10, 22 and 38, running option/option/prime/prime
• After starting from pole, Nico was forced to convert to a four-stop strategy at the end of his third stint
• He stopped on laps 9, 20, 33 and 44, running option/prime/prime/option/option

Lewis Hamilton

I’m really happy with our result today. It’s been a tough weekend for us but we got through it and finishing in fifth place was some good damage limitation. My race didn’t start well at all. I was looking after the tires but I really struggled on the first two stints and was falling back. But as the temperatures dropped, the car picked up and then I had the grip that I needed to push and close the gap. I had so much fun fighting with Mark at the end. We really needed that point and I was so determined to get by. It was good, clean wheel-to-wheel racing. I’m very proud of what we have achieved over the first four races and to be third in the Drivers’ Championship is beyond any of our expectations. But we’ve got to keep pushing and find more performance. We’re hanging on by the skin of our teeth at the moment and, if we can make that next step, then we can close the gap.

Nico Rosberg

A tough day for me. As nice as it was to start from pole this afternoon, it was just as hard to finish in ninth place. I didn’t feel comfortable in the car today and it wasn’t much fun out there really. We switched to a four-stop strategy at the end of my third stint but it wasn’t enough. We were using the rear tyres too much and at the end, I was really struggling and wasn’t able to push hard enough. There is a lot of work ahead and we need to focus on why our race performance isn’t matching the pace that we can show in qualifying. Hopefully we can make some steps here before the European season starts.

Ross Brawn

We struggled badly in the early part of the race when the track temperatures were at their highest. This is an issue we have to address and we will continue working on solutions to improve our performance in this area. In the second half of the race, as the track temperatures cooled somewhat, our pace was not bad – particularly with Lewis. We got two cars home in the points, both drivers enjoyed some exciting wheel-to-wheel racing and the pit crew delivered some great stops. Lewis and Nico did as good a job as possible with the car we had this afternoon but it was a case of damage limitation for both of them. However we must make it a priority to cope better with elevated temperatures: the tyres are the same for everybody and we are not performing as well as our competitors in these conditions.

Toto Wolff

We knew it would be a tough day and the high track temperatures were clearly not good for us. That’s not an excuse but a priority area to improve. We need to analyse carefully why we suffered so much, particularly in the early stages, and why we were not on the pace. Both drivers were tough but fair in defending their positions and delivered some good racing, particularly Lewis in the closing stages. But from a team perspective we must see this as a disappointing result. We learned a lot this afternoon but it is clear that we still have a lot to learn.

Staring first on the gird at the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, the new Mercedes AMG Petronas Driver Lewis Hamilton ran a great race but his car and his tires just weren’t up to the challenge. Despite falling back from first, Lewis Hamilton still managed to achieve his second successive podium for Mercedes AMG Petronas with a third place finish in Shanghai.  First place went to Fernando Alonso with Kimi Räikkönen coming in second.

Teammate Nico Rosberg did not fair quite as well however. Starting the race in the fourth position, Rosberg only managed to complete 21 laps before retiring early due to the rear anti-roll bar breaking and throwing off the balance of the car.

Continue on for quotes from the Mercedes AMG Petronas team or skip straight down to the photo gallery for a complete look at the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

• Lewis started from pole and completed a three-stop option/prime/prime/prime strategy, stopping on laps 5, 21 and 37
• Nico was following the same strategy and had stopped on laps 5 and19, followed by a further stop on lap 20
• The team retired his car on lap 21 when a problem with the rear anti-roll bar was identified

Nico Rosberg

The race was tough for me today and with my set-up I had an unexpected level of understeer which made it difficult to drive. After my second pit stop, the feeling got worse and I had one front wheel in the air during the corners. The rear anti-roll bar, which influences the balance of the car, had broken so unfortunately we had to retire the car. It’s a shame and I’ve had a difficult start to the season with two DNFs. But it’s good to have the next race in just seven days time so hopefully we can put this result behind us with a strong weekend in Bahrain. It was great for the team to get another podium today.

Lewis Hamilton

It was a good race for me today and whilst I would have loved the win, I’m really happy with third place and being on the podium for the second race in a row. Fernando and Kimi were just a little bit too fast for us during the race and my tires were shot at the end trying to keep ahead of Sebastian. I could see his car getting bigger and bigger in my mirrors so it was nice to be able to hang on for the third place. The guys did a great job this weekend to get us where we were; on pole and finishing third. We got the absolute most out of the car we had and that’s very satisfying. We’re not quite there yet in terms of overall pace but everyone is working so hard and I know we can do it.

Ross Brawn

We didn’t quite enjoy the balance with the car today that we were expecting. Clearly the track had moved away from us and perhaps more towards one or two other teams. Certainly we didn’t have as good a balance in the race as we had on Friday. With Lewis, we did the best we could with the car we had today and he drove extremely well. We needed to keep the stints as evenly balanced as possible to make sure we had adequate tyre life, however, even with that, it became very close with Sebastian at the end. Nico was running with the same issues a few places back when a problem with the rear anti-roll bar meant we had to stop the car. Overall we can be confident that we’ve made another step forward this weekend, and the fact that we’re all a little disappointed with third is a measure of the ambition and expectations of the team.

Toto Wolff

Well done to Lewis for the second podium finish in the last two races. He drove a very good race, just fending off Sebastian who had reeled him in on his option tires over the last five laps. Starting from pole obviously raises expectations, however we knew that tyre management would be very critical for us today. During practice and qualifying, the track conditions suited us better than in the race today and, as a result, the balance of the car changed and wasn’t as good for both drivers. Unfortunately Nico had to retire from the race on lap 21 with a broken anti-roll bar and we will analyse the reason for this. We will work hard to make sure that technical problems like the ones Nico experienced do not happen again so that both drivers can score points in the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend.

In the first race of the 2013 season and his first race as part of the Mercedes AMG Petronas team, Lewis Hamilton finished in fifth place at Sunday’s Australian Grand Pirx after starting third on the grid. A very respectable start to the season, garnering Hamilton 10 points. His new team-mate Nico Rosberg started the race 6th on the grid and was off to a strong start, but was forced to retire his car early after an electrical issue that occured midway through the race.

Lewis Hamilton completed the fourth and final day of the first winter test in Jerez, Spain as a member of the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team. After running only 15 laps on his first day in the car and after a few minor hiccups, Lewis managed to complete a total of 145 laps today and has familiarised himself with the new F1 W04.

• Lewis’ running this morning concentrated on set-up changes as he familiarised himself with the car

• Following a delay to repair the track surface at Turn 5, Lewis focused on completing a race distance

• This was successfully completed during the afternoon with further valuable miles put on the new car

• Lewis and Nico completed a combined total of 1426 km over the four days of testing in Jerez

• MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS will resume testing on Tuesday 19 February in Barcelona.

Lewis Hamilton

Today we managed the kind of mileage that the car is capable of and I think we have a good platform to start working from. Now we need to understand the F1 W04 even more: personally, I am learning something with every lap I do and every change I make to the set-up. Overall, I think we are probably at the level we would have hoped to be. The team has done a great job to add downforce to the car over the winter and they now need Nico and me to tell them where we can improve and the direction we need to go. Everybody has been incredibly supportive and I am really building a good bond with the team; they feel energised, ready to go and everybody is working flat out to move us forward.

Ross Brawn

After a difficult first half of the test, the last two days have really been as good as we could have hoped for. Nico is probably best placed to compare between last year’s car and the new F1 W04 and he seems pretty enthusiastic, but it is hard to have any reliable feeling of where we stand relative to the competition. Lewis had a very constructive day today as he settled in to the car; he has been very straightforward in telling us what he thinks, is interested in everything about the car and has a very good eye for detail. Overall, the step we have to make from where we were at the end of last year is substantial and it is also, of course, a moving target. But looking at the team as a whole, I can see very encouraging signs of progress.

TIMES

As the new addition to the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS F1 team, Lewis Hamilton is making his rounds this week and we have his first appearences caught on video and in photos.  Video of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS driver Lewis Hamilton making his first appearance as a works Silver Arrow driver in Germany visiting Mercedes-AMG headquarters in Affalterbach and the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Also in F1 news, Toto Wolff steps down as Williams F1 Team executive director to replace Norbert Haug. Click here to read the full story.

Williams F1 Team has announced that Toto Wolff is to leave his role as an executive director of the team with immediate effect to take up a new position with Mercedes-Benz. Wolff is set to take up a senior management position in charge of Mercedes-Benz’s motorsport activities as replacement for the departed Norbert Haug.

As a shareholder and director at Williams, the new job would have led to a clash of interests, which is why he has stood down from his direct responsibilities with the outfit. He will retain his financial involvement, however.

Team principal Frank Williams praised the work that Wolff had done for his Grove-based outfit over recent years, and said it would have been wrong to stand in the way of the opportunity the Austrian had at Mercedes.

“I would like to thank Toto for his hard work, dedication and commitment to the team during his time as one of our executive directors,” explained Williams.

“He was a key support to me in this role last season, deputising at a number of races when I was unable to attend. However, positions such as the one offered to him by Mercedes do not come around often.

“Toto has a long history with them and I certainly was not going to stand in the way of him accepting this once in a lifetime opportunity.

“Toto will retain his shareholding in Williams and will always have a place at Grove but make no mistake; we will fight him hard on the race track!

“I am sure he will be a strong asset for Mercedes and on behalf of the whole team I would like to wish him the best of luck in his new role.”

Wolff already had close ties with Mercedes through a 49 percent stake he had in the engineering company HWA, which helps run the German car manufacturer’s DTM program.

Wolff’s departure from Williams comes against the backdrop of other senior staff having left the outfit over the past year, including former chairman Adam Parr and chief operations engineer Mark Gillan.

Williams said that he had the utmost confidence that the current management structure of the team would continue to ensure that the outfit had a bright future.

“I’m lucky to have a very professional group of people around me and the company’s executive committee will continue the work they have been doing to ensure a successful future for the business,” he said.

British based Williams F1 team looks set to be the only team to miss getting its cars ready for the first pre-season test at Jerez in Spain, however. Its new challenger will be launched before the second test in Barcelona.