Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has conceded to being a worried man in the wake of Sebastian Vettel 's Malaysian Grand Prix victory . Suggestions of another season of Mercedes domination in the wake of a comfortable one-two in the season-opening race in Australia were blown apart by Ferrari and Vettel in Malaysia . As Vettel himself noted , his triumph was achieved 'fair and square ' as he beat reigning champion Lewis Hamilton by 8.5 seconds , with team-mate Nico Rosberg a further four seconds adrift in third . Mercedes boss Toto Wolff ( right ) was surprised by Sebastian Vettel 's Malaysian Grand Prix victory . Despite searing heat of more than 30 degrees , Vettel 's Ferrari was kinder on its tyres , stopping just twice compared to three for both Hamilton and Rosberg . It has left Wolff concerned , as he said : 'We were pretty sure the three-stop strategy would work for us . 'We probably went a bit too aggressive on set-up , which pushed us into a direction of a three-stop . Wolff admitted that the German driver deserved to win and Ferrari got their tactics spot-on in the soaring heat . Vettel celebrates after winning his first race of the season and opening up the Drivers Championship . 'But in the circumstances , with the high temperatures , they were able to go at a faster pace over long runs than us . 'We need to analyse why that was the case , and it clearly shows it 's not going to be an easy one . 'It is clear they won the race , which is worrying . It would n't be right to say we lost it . ' F1 stats provided by F1 Stat Blog . Vettel finished 8.5 seconds ahead of Hamilton ( left ) and 12.5 seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg . Wolff at least gave credit where it is due to Ferrari , although has also admitted to surprise at how quickly his team have been reeled in given their margin of victory in Australia . 'Ferrari deserved to win , ' Wolff added . 'From a racing perspective , you have to acknowledge they have done a great development over the winter . 'For Formula One it ( their win ) is a positive , particularly after all the talk we had in Melbourne of a boring race and Mercedes running away with the championship . Hamilton had to pit three times in the race compared to Vettel 's two and that was a major blow for him . 'It is what Formula One needed , but we did n't expect them to catch us this quickly . 'We were pretty dominant in Melbourne - we were a little bit sceptical about our own advantage . 'That we 've been caught up by a Ferrari in two weeks , that they beat us fair and square on the track , is a bit of a surprise , but equally a bit of a wake up call , which is good for us . 'We just need to analyse in the next couple of days where we went wrong , what we need to improve , whether we need to bring any developments forward and put them on the car quicker . Rosberg ( 6 ) finished in third and continued his solid start to the Formula One season in Malaysia . 'Definitely we need to increase the pace of our development . ' Wolff insists , though , Mercedes will not over-react to the situation , particularly as the cooler conditions at the next race in China in a fortnight are expected to favour his cars . 'There is no panic , but we are in a new situation , ' he said . 'We were not in control of things . We had new information which was different to what we had assessed over the weekend . 'Things did n't pan out in the way we expected them to pan out , but it was clear the winning streak would not go on forever . ' The German celebrates with his Ferrari team after winning the second Formula One race of the season . Suggested to Wolff the loss was the end of an era , he said : 'We must not be extreme in our assessment . 'In Melbourne there was extreme thinking we would win all season , and here we are two weeks later and we say is this the end of an era ? 'It is not the end of an era - maybe the start of a new era , of a good battle , a battle we would like to take on . 'It 's about staying calm , assessing , trying to return with confidence and with the speed we have had in the last couple of races . '
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was surprised by Sebastian Vettel 's victory . Wolff admitted that Ferrari deserved to win the Ferrari Grand Prix . Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished second and third . Click here for all the latest Formula One news .