George Russell says finishing second in the championship would not mean anything as boss Toto Wolff hit back at suggestions that the British driver may never get another shot at the title.
The 28-year-old trudged home eighth at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday, the bare minimum he needed to keep the title race mathematically alive as leader Kimi Antonelli roared to a dominant victory.
Antonelli now holds a whopping 123-point lead over his teammate, with Lewis Hamilton still just about in it a point further back. Russell also now has Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc within 10 points of him.
While the Italian is likely to be celebrating the championship in Mexico City next weekend, Russell is not driven by the fight to finish second.
"As long as we win the constructors' championship, that's the main thing," a dejected Russell said.
"Obviously I'd like to finish best of the rest but P2, P3, P5 is not champion, so it doesn't mean anything."
Antonelli was in a league of his own in Austin, romping home a huge 13.0 seconds ahead of Leclerc.
But Russell, hampered by an early five-second penalty, had no answer in the same machinery, unable to get past McLaren's Oscar Piastri to progress from eighth.
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"Six good laps, 50 bad laps," Russell added. "The penalty was a bit ridiculous as well, but that's the least of my worries after such a bad weekend.
"He obviously was exceptionally competitive and there are signs that the window [of performance] is very small. I hope that's an explanation for my lack of pace today, but I need to believe in my team because it's difficult to understand when you're so far off."
Russell entered the season as heavy title favourite in the grid's dominant car but his young teammate has turned the tables and is set to storm to the title.
Former Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko told Sky Deutschland this week that he doubted Russell would ever get another shot at the championship, having been usurped as Mercedes' number one.
Team principal Wolff hit back at that assertion, saying: "I think he's [Marko] wrong on George. George has all the ability. I think the car doesn't suit him.
"I think that at the beginning of the season it's difficult to cope with a situation where you're feeling like 'this is my year to come,' and then you have this wunderkind on the other side that starts to really chip away.
"And I believe that in a new season, George, if we provide him a quick car, has absolutely what it needs to win a championship."
Wolff also believes it is down to the team to understand Russell's deficit to Antonelli, taking blame away from his driver.
"George, for all of us in the team, is a champion and has won in every category. I think he merits to be put in the group of the very best ones," Wolff added.
"This year we see this variability in results. When we land the car in the way that suits him, he's absolutely fine.
"But when it drops out of the operational window, he struggles. He struggles more than maybe Kimi. And that is on us.
"We just have to work it out. Because George is not half a second slower, three tenths slower than Kimi. That's just absolutely not the case.
"So what is it that he doesn't like? What is it that we need to do in terms of modifying the car, setting it up in a different way for him to go fast? Because it's all there -- intelligence, ability, determination."