Lewis Hamilton accepts Mercedes celebrations offer after Ferrari and Charles Leclerc row

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Toto Wolff has revealed how Lewis Hamilton joined him and former team-mate George Russell on the journey home from the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Title celebrations were already well under way by that point after Mercedes scored enough points in Brazil to secure their status as constructors' champions. They needed to outscore Ferrari by three points to get the job done on Sunday and managed it despite having a messy Sunday themselves.

Russell and Kimi Antonelli both suffered spins on a slippery Interlagos track and neither of them made it onto the podium. But they were helped in their quest to seal the title in Sao Paulo by Ferrari who struggled for pace throughout Sunday.

Hamilton started from the back of the grid with engine penalties while Charles Leclerc also took a new internal combustion engine beyond his allowance, forcing him to start from 14th. They both struggled to get their tyres working in both wet and dry conditions and they ended up just eighth and ninth by the end.

Leclerc finished seventh on the road but lated dropped down one place because of a penalty for colliding with Liam Lawson. Meanwhile, Hamilton lost points because of a miscommunication late in the race which resulted in the seven-time world champion failing to pit when Ferrari asked him to.

That was after a week which had already been overshadowed by tensions between the two Ferrari drivers after their duel for the win in Mexico City earlier this month resulted in neither of them taking victory, much to the annoyance of team principal Frederic Vasseur.

While Hamilton and Ferrari struggle to get themselves on the same page, his old team Mercedes got themselves back on top of the F1 world for the first time since 2021. Trackside staff celebrated together on the podium after the race while team principal Wolff said a title party is planned back in the UK.

He also revealed that he would be travelling back from Brazil to Britain with one of his drivers, Russell, and also Hamilton on the same private plane. He said: "In terms of the party, I don't know yet. Now it's another flight, another overnight flight.

"George is going to be on that overnight flight, so maybe we'll have a drink, a constructors' drink. We're going to take Lewis also, so we'll see, maybe he needs one for the bed! And then we figure out what we do in party terms in coming back to the UK."

Lewis Hamilton accepted an offer from his old boss Toto Wolff (Image: Getty)

Russell has had a difficult year, having largely played second fiddle to Antonelli who has already secured his status as drivers' champion. Still, he has played a key role in Mercedes' return to their perch and Wolff was keen to acknowledge that as he spoke to reporters after Sunday's race in Sao Paulo.

He said: "It's George's championship today, it's the constructors' championship and he's part of the team and I'm really happy that he can cherish this moment, because we owe it to him.

"He had it so tough at times and yesterday was a good example. He was absolutely dominating. Now we have three races to go, we're going to go full blast, and he will recover, I have no doubt about that. For next year, all the very best sports, people have gone through difficult periods and that's going to be part of his continued development."

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