Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has accepted that the manufacturer “got lucky again” in Malaysia, after Lewis Hamilton was able to extend his advantage in the championship to 34 points.
Mercedes struggled for performance at the previous round in Singapore but picked up a victory after both Ferrari drivers and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen were eliminated on the opening lap.
Mercedes again lagged behind its rivals on race pace in Malaysia, with pole sitter Hamilton unable to prevent Max Verstappen from taking the lead during the opening laps.
However, Hamilton was able to finish second, his result aided by the Ferrari pair hitting engine woes, leaving Kimi Räikkönen unable to start and Sebastian Vettel lining up from the back of the grid.
Wolff believes that Mercedes “cannot get distracted” by the results it has achieved and must understand why it has lacked pace compared to Ferrari and Red Bull in recent events.
“It was clear after just a few laps that both Red Bull and Ferrari had better cars than us,” said Wolff.
“But we nevertheless managed to score a good number of points and extend our lead in both championships.
“After a weekend where we have lacked a significant chunk of performance, we couldn't have imagined such a good outcome, but we can't let that distract us from the job we have in front of us.
“We leave Malaysia with a lot of question marks and we need to find answers to them in the next days and weeks, to ensure that we keep moving forward and racing at the front in the final quarter of this championship.
“We cannot get distracted by the fact we got lucky again this weekend.”
Valtteri Bottas struggled to fifth place, over 40 seconds behind Hamilton, having also qualified 0.680s behind his team-mate.
Wolff emphasised that Bottas’ pace was not reflective of his “true level” and that Mercedes must try and address the issues.
“Lewis did a fantastic job to score P2 while Valtteri, just like over the rest of the weekend, struggled to match that pace and brought the car home in P5,” said Wolff.
“We know that gap doesn't reflect his true level of performance, and it will be a priority for us to put two equally competitive cars on track next weekend at Suzuka.
“In simple words, there is a lot more work ahead of us if we want to come out on top by Abu Dhabi.”
Mercedes leads Ferrari in the standings by 118 points.
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