UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX - KIM, SEBASTIAN AND TEAM FERRARI OUT-STRATEGIED TEAM MERCEDES! THE END...

As the overtaking of Hamilton by Raikkonen within the first dozen metres proved, Team Mercedes did not have the good start which they needed. 

And then, later, as the apparently inexplicable failure of Team Mercedes and Hamilton to pit the Car 44, when it was upto 17 seconds ahead of Kimi, suggested.  

Team Mercedes did not have and/or deployed the most appropriate race strategies.

It is not clear whether this is partly because, as James Allison, Team Mercedes' Technical Director, is reported saying, "That wasnt the race we were hoping for....." 

In analysing what had gone wrong, or what they could or should have done differently. 

Team Mercedes should profit from asking and answering this question: 

"Do we plan and strategise for the race we are hoping for, or do we do so for the race which the data and facts which we have accumulated and analysed, predict to be the most probable outcome.?" 

It seems to me that it should be the latter, and that, on this occasion, Team Mercedes did not do so, and got it wrong. 

This reminds me of what Toto Wolff recently said about the appropriateness or otherwise, of him overriding or preempting his Team Strategist. 

And, I wonder, is Toto Wolff now pondering whether the 2020 United States Grand Prix was the exception.  Which would have warranted him making the call for Hamilton to have been pitted before the too late call, had he considered the need to do so?

Races and championships are won by drivers and teams consistently take the chances and opportunities made available to them to do so. 

It is not just about 'saying the right thing', but also about 'doing the right thing at the right time and place.' 

Team Mercedes, as a whole, still has some way to go in doing so, and the Mexican Grand Prix provides them with another opportunity to demonstrate that they have arrived!