Toto Wolff backs Lewis Hamilton claims as Verstappen rules again in Mexico

Team chief Toto Wolff on Friday said Mercedes would always risk disqualification, as happened with Lewis Hamilton at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, rather than take a cautious approach to racing.

Speaking in the paddock at the Mexico Grand Prix, Wolff also said that he agreed with seven-time champion Hamilton’s claim that half the grid in Austin would have been disqualified if their cars were also tested after the race for worn 'skid blocks'.

Newly-crowned world champion Max Verstappen dominated the day's action with a clean sweep of both practice sessions for Red Bull, finishing FP2 ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, who was also disqualified in Texas.

Hamilton came home just two seconds adrift of Verstappen on track in the American race, but he was disqualified for excessive plank wear several hours after the race during scrutineering tests.

'On the limit'

Wolff said Mercedes were aware that Hamilton's car was 'on the limit' for wear following Saturday's sprint race, but they chose not to make adjustments - and with them a pit lane start for the race for breaking parc ferme rules.

"The problem with the Sprint races is your car goes into parc ferme and you can't adjust it anymore," Wolff told Sky Sports F1. "Going into Saturday, we thought, 'hmm, that could be on the limit, but probably with a little bit of a margin'.

"I would take the disqualification running for a race win and seeing the performance, rather than ending P3 and 25 seconds adrift. Every day of the week I would take the disqualification!"

He added that he agreed with Hamilton that more cars ran illegally, but simply were not tested.

"That's the feedback we got from the other teams," he said. "They chat with each other, the