Mercedes joined a "select group of teams" to have won the Formula 1 constructors’ championship four years in a row on Sunday and recognized it as the team's "toughest title yet," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. With a lead of 147 points with 129 remaining from the final three races, Mercedes joined Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull, which "racked up similar streaks during their years of dominance." Unlike its rivals, Mercedes "managed to stay on top despite major rule changes" at the end of last year that introduced wider tires and revised aerodynamics to make the cars faster and harder to handle. This season the team has been "fighting a resurgent and determined Ferrari rather than just waging an internal battle between teammates." Mercedes F1 non-exec Chair Niki Lauda said, "This for us was the most difficult one because Ferrari was competitive and we still made it." Driver Lewis Hamilton, who won at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday for the fifth time in six years, has won nine times this year and is a "fingertip away from his own fourth championship." His title "looks to come in Mexico next weekend, barring misfortune" (REUTERS, 10/22).
