Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsMercedes

Wolff wary of Ferrari gains

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team needs to be wary of the gains made by Ferrari over the winter after it showed strong pace in the first race of the season.

Sebastian Vettel was a distant third to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the Australian Grand Prix, but spent the first half of the race stuck behind Felipe Massa’s Williams. Ferrari scored just two podiums all year in 2014 but having shown itself to be the nearest challenger in Melbourne Wolff says it highlights just how quickly the team’s rivals can close the gap.

“Melbourne was a faultless weekend from the team and a well-deserved reward for everybody who has worked so hard on the W06 Hybrid project,” Wolff said. “They absolutely deserve the success we currently enjoy.

“It was, however, just one race. We will not be backing off - and nor can we afford to, with a relentless opposition chasing us. Ferrari have made a clear step forwards, Williams also look very strong and you can never count anybody out at this stage, so we are prepared for a fight in the coming races.

“The next battle is Malaysia - a home race for Petronas and one we will attack with the same intensity as Australia. In our minds it's back to square one and our objectives remain the same.”

Click here for F1i's Malaysian Grand Prix preview

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.