Norris sparkles in Sao Paulo despite firework mishap

Like Antonelli, team boss Toto Wolff was as focused on the lessons of the day and year as he was on the success.

He reflected on the fact that while Mercedes had dominated the first half of the season, not only have they been caught in the second, but upgrades brought to the car a few races ago did not have the expected effect.

"Look at the last few races," Wolff said. "We haven't won.

"Then today at the beginning of the race, Kimi was just storming away. It looked like this could be ours. But the competition has been getting tougher between Ferrari, McLaren, Red Bull and ourselves.