He said: “The many people that said last year after nine races without points, he shouldn’t be in a Mercedes.
“People in other teams that said, he shouldn’t even be in Formula One, the tears in Spa, in parc ferme.
“And all of that now is extremely satisfying to see what he’s able to deliver, how he’s working with the team, with Bono [Antonelli’s engineer Peter Bonnington] and yielding the results. But it wasn’t an easy road.
“So, I’m happy that, 99.9 per cent, he still needs to finish the race in Mexico. So, it’s either going to be a big tequila party, or if it’s not a tequila party, then it’s going to be Caipirinha the weekend afterwards.”
