It was Mercedes' fourth win of the season but it has been an inconsistent year and they are set to finish fourth in the constructors’ championship, having been third in 2022 and second in 2023.
Russell is confident of another good result next weekend in Qatar, the penultimate race of the season.
"I think we’ve got a good shot in Qatar," he said. "Going into this triple-header, I had my sights set on Qatar even to the point where I wanted to take my previous engine out and put an old engine in and save my best engine for Qatar."
Seven-time world champion Hamilton looked set to put his car on pole in qualifying but made mistakes in the final session, which meant he started on the fifth row.
He came through the field in Las Vegas and passed world champion Max Verstappen to take second before narrowing the gap to Russell in the closing stages.
"If I'd done my job yesterday it would have been a breeze today," said Hamilton.
"If the car drives like that in the next couple of races then I think we’ll be in a good spot to challenge the guys up front. The championship’s done, so now it’s just all out, fight for the best positions possible."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: "Today we really crushed everyone, we could have gone easily faster, at times we were two seconds quicker than everyone else.
"We seem to be very good when it’s high speed and on a bit of the chillier side with less grip and that’s something we can be proud about. But when it’s getting hot that is when the car is not performing so well."