Wolff asks Mercedes to fight harder than ever in Russia

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton both extended their championship leads after strong results in Singapore. Hamilton's lead over Sebastian Vettel is up to 40, while Ferrari trail by 37-points. As they look like they've got a hand on the trophy, Toto Wolff tells his troops to work harder than ever.

The Mercedes team principal is aware of the dangerous threats Ferrari hold. In his preview to the race at the weekend, Wolff explains how cautious he feels.

"We showed an excellent performance in Singapore and the victory was a fantastic reward for all the hard work that had gone into it. But it also reinforced another point: there are no easy wins this season," Wolff said.

"We have to fight hard for every bit of performance in order to have a chance to fight for victories. This fight will continue in Russia."

Over the last few seasons, the Russian Grand Prix took place in the opening rounds of the season. To find data in the late September/October category, teams are going to have to dig back to 2015. This makes the practice sessions all the more important on Friday.

"With the race being held in late September, we're going back to weather conditions that will be similar to those of 2014 and 2015, when the Russian Grand Prix took place in early October," Wolff added.

"We don't have any data from the current regulation cars in those conditions in Sochi, so this adds another challenge to the race."

If Hamilton beats Vettel in Sochi, Hamilton no longer needs to win a single race in order to be crowned champion. Wolff knows how Ferrari will be desperate to come away with a result, so he asks his troops to put in all the effort.

"We have a good track record in Sochi but we know that Ferrari and Red Bull will give it everything to break our winning streak, so we must fight as hard as ever to make sure we bring home as many points as possible," concluded Wolff.