Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says there is "no margin" for the team to relax, despite Nico Rosberg picking up a third consecutive win of the 2016 F1 season in China.
The German dominated the race at the Shanghai International Circuit, meaning he has scored the maximum number of points available so far.
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull each suffered problems in China on Sunday, but Wolff believes there could have been a three-way fight for victory if it had been a cleaner race.
"That was a rollercoaster race," he said after the Chinese GP. "Nico enjoyed the perfect weekend: he was totally dominant this afternoon, always in control of his performance and did really a flawless job. For Lewis [Hamilton], the circumstances couldn't have been more different.
"He got a great start, tried to stay out of trouble in the first corners and still got collected by a Sauber, who was avoiding another car coming back on track. His front wing was lodged under the car for a while, which damaged the leading edge of the floor and cost him a chunk of downforce for the rest of the race – though it was hard to know exactly how much during the race.
"He put in a great recovery drive and pulled off some great overtakes – but the damage to the car meant the tyres didn't last as long as we had hoped and made it hard to catch cars through Turn 13 before the back straight.
"We are just three races into the longest season in Formula 1 history, so this isn't the time to be looking at championship tables or points gaps.
"We just need to keep scoring points right now, continue to work on our reliability after some wobbles this weekend and keep working very hard to bring more performance to the car and power unit.
"It looked like it could have been a three-way fight with Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull if our rivals had a cleaner race – so there is no margin for us to relax."
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