Mercedes technical director Paddy Lowe: Our opposition has raised their game and we must now raise ours

Sebastian Vettel won his first race for Ferrari in Malaysian GP

Sebastian Vettel’s first win for Ferrari in Malaysian Grand Prix ended a run eight victories for Mercedes dating back to last season. The key to Ferrari’s win since May 2013 was the car’s treatment of its tyres in the intense Malaysian heat. And Paddy Lowe, Mercedes’ technical director, concedes Mercedes have "work to be done on that front.”

"It is now clearer than ever that there is serious competition for this world championship, so we will continue to work flat out for performance gains," added Lowe ahead of this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

"We have a range of new aerodynamic developments for Shanghai and are targeting an improved performance from Malaysia." Lowe said.

Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff also described the Ferrari’s win as a “wake-up call” and wants the team to raise their game after the opposition raised theirs,

"This is something you cannot afford to happen often and, although we had two cars on the podium, we have been looking very carefully at every area where we could have performed better," added Wolff.

"Our opposition has raised its game and we must now raise ours even further. We have the weapons at our disposal - and we need to make the most of them this weekend." he said.

The team’s decisions to make an early pit stop under a safety car and to race mainly on the harder ‘Pirelli’ tyre were the factors to Ferrari's win, and Hamilton said the race had been "particularly challenging".

"I think ultimately we made the best choices we could - but there is always room for improvement," the two-time world champion added.

His team-mate Rosberg said: "We've definitely learned some lessons and it's time to take that to the track in China.

"It's not been a perfect start to my sixth year with the team and I'm determined to turn that around." he said.