Mercedes reflect on "very disappointing day" in Brazil

Mercedes technical director James Allison has reflected on what has been a "very disappointing day" for the Silver Arrows in Brazil, as Valtteri Bottas retired with mechanical issues and Lewis Hamilton got a five-second penalty which dropped him to seventh place.

The German works team has sealed both championships already, securing the constructors' title in Japan and Hamilton clinching it in the United States. Bottas is also confirmed for second place, meaning there wasn't really much to fight for at Interlagos.

Team principal Toto Wolff didn't travel to Sao Paulo for the Grand Prix, and (maybe not) coincidentally, it all went wrong for Mercedes in what was a very uncharacteristic race for them.

"It was a very disappointing day," Allison reflected on Sunday's chaotic race.

"A day where we made some mistakes, where we suffered very uncharacteristic unreliability on one car and turned what should have been a decent result into a DNF for Valtteri and a disappointing finish for Lewis."

Hamilton led for chunks of the race and stayed out when Bottas caused a Safety Car with his retirement, but second-placed Max Verstappen overtook the reigning champion as soon as the green flag waved again with a sweet move at the opening chicane.

When the second Safety Car was deployed, Hamilton did dive in for fresh rubber but the Brit made a sloppy move on Alex Albon for third place, making contact with the Red Bull. It eventually gave him a five-second penalty which dropped him from third to seventh. A very frustrating weekend all-round.

"We were reaching a bit in the end and we paid the price for doing something that was too optimistic – we brought in Lewis for a set of fresh tyres right at the end of the race and lost some places as a result of that and also got tangled up in an accident that was an indirect consequence of that call.

"Valtteri suffered from an oil consumption issue earlier on in the race and we were monitoring it, but it got worse and ended his race prematurely."

Allison vows to "end the season in style" in Abu Dhabi to bounce back from the disappointment from last Sunday.