Wake-up call for Mercedes

Alarms sounded at Formula One world champions Mercedes on Sunday after Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel beat them fair and square in Malaysia.

“It was a wake-up call, it’s going to remind us it’s not an easy ride,” Mercedes motorsport Austrian head Toto Wolff said after champion Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg finished second and third.

“There is fierce competition out there and we can’t afford to be complacent and can’t make any mistakes. We need to continue to develop flat out and I think it (the defeat) is the right thing at the right time, probably. We’ve got a massive battle out there.”

Mercedes had arrived in Sepang after a one-two in Australia that had rivals wondering whether the Silver Arrows could be beaten this season.

Hamilton’s pole on Saturday was Mercedes’s 13th in a row and the German constructor, dominant since the introduction of the V6 turbo hybrid power unit, had won the last eight races.

But Sepang did not go to plan, with Ferrari and Vettel claiming their first wins since 2013 while Mercedes struggled on the softer medium-compound tyres and made strategic errors.

Ferrari put a dismal 2014 Formula One season behind them with a tactical master class that allowed Vettel to upset the odds and sweep to victory.

“After the difficulties of last year, the amount of effort that has gone in to turn this team around is just extraordinary,” said the Italian team’s jubilant technical director James Allison “You can’t find the words to explain how good this feels,” added the Briton.

“This sport is mainly misery and every now and again you get an incredible rush that makes all the misery worthwhile and it sets you up and makes you just feel utterly fantastic.”

Ferrari’s 2014 blank was their first season without a win since 1993 while four times world champion Vettel failed to triumph at Red Bull.

Maurizio Arrivabene was then drafted in as team principal, with the Italian saying in December that Ferrari had a hard road ahead to catch champions Mercedes and he would be happy with two wins.

“Of course the team is super happy. I have to say I was super happy too. I promised two races (wins), now we make one,” said Arrivabene.

“Sometimes it’s an advantage and sometimes it’s a disadvantage to win so early but I’m very happy.”

Vettel had finished third in the Australian season-opener but Ferrari’s hopes were raised in Friday practice at Sepang when world champion Hamilton and his team mate Rosberg struggled on the softer medium tyres.

An early safety car period saw Hamilton and Rosberg pit for hard tyres while Vettel stayed out and laid the foundation for victory on his mediums.

“The confidence we had from our tyres on Friday meant we knew we didn’t have to dive into the pits and that allowed us to get track position and then stretch our legs,” Allison added.

“It made the race easier, but I think we would have made a very good race of it in any situation.” Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, showed the car’s pace when the Finn climbed from 11th on the starting grid to fourth at the flag despite a puncture.

“After the podium I was running to look for Kimi and to hug him because he did an unbelievable race and for us it’s important. He demonstrated how strong the car is,” said Arrivabene.

Hamilton said Ferrari had simply managed the tyres better. “After the first stop, I just had so much ground to catch up, it was pretty much impossible,” he said. “All day I was struggling with the balance, I had a lot of under-steer so I couldn’t really look after tyres.

“I was doing everything with the controls but couldn’t find a good balance.”

Rosberg lost more time when he had to wait behind Hamilton for fresh tyres and then to be released. He also complained that the subsequent fight through the pack cost him a lot in tyre degradation.

“We have to analyse the whole thing. I don’t think we could have won the race even with the Ferrari strategy,” said the team’s non-executive chairman and former triple champion Niki Lauda.

“I think the Ferrari car and its engine and Sebastian were quicker and better. We have to take our hats off (to them) and work hard.”

Wolff added: “It’s very easy after the race to point the finger on a particular situation, a particular decision and say that was to blame. I think in hindsight there were many things we could have optimised.”