Toto Wolff received Ferrari's message at Sepang

Sebastian Vettel built his victory at the Malaysian GP by taking advantage of the better tire conservation on the abrasive Sepang track and by implementing a better strategy against the Mercedes. The feat will certainly be difficult to repeat, but the four-time world champion and the Team Ferrari have sent a clear message to the German team.

“Ferrari deserved its victory”, recognised Toto wolff, the executive chairman of Mercedes Motorsport, on the official website of the discipline. « It's fantastic for F1 after all the talk about a boring race in Melbourne (Australia) and that Mercedes had a stranglehold on the championship. We had a hectic race here!…I don’t think we could have kept up with Ferrari’s pace on the long runs. »

The priority objective for Mercedes is to improve the performance of the tires during long stints in high heat. “Ferrari’s pace is worrying”, admitted the Austrian. “They were able to be faster than us on the long runs. In any case, it proves that this season will not be an easy year for us... We didn't expect such a comeback... It's both a surprise and an awakening. »

Discover the analysis of the Malaysian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2005 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.