Mercedes confirm 'substantial' upgrade for Austin as they look to celebrate another milestone with Hamilton

Mercedes Technical Director James Allison is hopeful that the team can enjoy a good weekend at the upcoming United States Grand Prix as they prepare to bring a “substantial” set of updates to the event.

The Silver Arrows endured a disappointing race last time out in Singapore, with the decision to start Lewis Hamilton on the soft tyre failing to pay off en route to the seven-time world champion finishing in sixth, while George Russell came home in fourth in what he later called an “evening of damage limitation”.

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Toto Wolff also labelled the Grand Prix as “a really painful, painful evening” for the team, adding that the W15 was “just slow”.

As such, Allison admitted in Mercedes’ post-race debrief that the squad planned to examine why they faced these issues in the break between Singapore and Austin, as well as preparing the upgrade that they hope will perform well at the Circuit of The Americas.

“[In the break] we'll be trying to figure out how to mitigate what ailed us this weekend [in Singapore], how to figure out how to make the tyres run better on these sort of overheating circuits and we'll be also doing quite a lot of work to bring our last upgrade of the season together,” Allison explained.

“We've got a fairly substantial set of new clothes for the car coming for Austin that we hope will give us a decent weekend there. So we've got to deliver all that and get ourselves ready for these last few races of the year.”

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With Singapore having marked Hamilton’s 350th race start, Allison is also hopeful that Austin can provide an opportunity to celebrate this in happier style given the disappointing outcome at Marina Bay.

“Lewis has had a career that I think won't ever be matched by any other driver, and for him to have done it all with one engine supply, with Mercedes engines, is I think particularly remarkable,” Allison reflected ahead of Hamilton’s final six races with the team before his move to Ferrari in 2025.

“We are coming towards the end of our journey with him and almost every weekend is a milestone never to be repeated with Lewis.

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“It's just a shame that it happened on a weekend where the car was not more bright, and my hope is that we won't have to go too far beyond the 350th – maybe we can celebrate the 351st in greater style in Austin.”