Mercedes: Ferrari win ‘a good wake-up call’

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff admits he did not expect Ferrari to be so quick in last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix but thinks Sebastian Vettel’s stunning win is a “good wake up call”.

The four-time world champion beat the two W06 Hybrids of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fair and square in Sepang after making one less pit stop and nursing his tyres in sweltering conditions.

Vettel thus became the first non-Mercedes driver to win a race since Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo prevailed at last year's Belgian Grand Prix.

Echoing Hamilton’s shock at Ferrari’s step forward, Wolff acknowledges he is equally surprised to see the Maranello-based team close the gap so fast.

“We didn’t expect them to catch us this quickly,” said the Mercedes boss. “We were pretty dominant in Melbourne, we are always a little bit sceptical about our own advantage.

“That we’ve been caught up by a Ferrari in two weeks, that they beat us fair and square on the track, is a bit of a surprise, but equally a bit of a wake up call, which is good for us.”

With the Chinese Grand Prix less than two weeks away (April 10-12), Wolff now vows to pore over the data from Sepang in order to bounce back immediately.

“We just need to analyse in the next couple of days where we went wrong, what we need to improve, whether we need to bring any developments forward, put them on the car quicker, what we are doing about engine number two. And assess that properly.

“But definitely, we need to increase the pace of our development.”

Click here for Sunday's gallery from the Malaysian Grand Prix