Wolff: We have lost so much pace...

Toto Wolff was not a happy man despite Lewis Hamilton finishing second in the Malaysian Grand Prix and extending his championship lead over Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel, after the race at Sepang the Mercedes F1 chief was asking where did the pace of the Silver Arrows go?

Speaking to reporters immediately after the race, Wolff said, "I'm very down. You cannot look at it and say we have scored more points than Ferrari - we have lost so much pace this weekend."

"We were half a minute down on Ferrari and probably if Max had pushed to the end we would have been half a second down on Max. How can a car that is so fast on many circuits lose so much with the tyre that is overheating?"

"In Singapore we were really good in the wet. At the moment is about keeping calm and trying to analyse it. If you look at the real pace today it would have been P5 and that is worrisome. We have a couple of days in Suzuka, a completely different climate, and we will know more by then."

"On paper Suzuka should suit us. There were some question marks over Malaysia - we should have been quicker than we were but Suzuka should be much more in the window.

"Once I have digested the race I will think about the six points we have gained over Ferrari but right now it's still sore," admitted Wolff.

Vettel recovered well after starting from 20th on the grid, and Mercedes were lucky that misfortune befell the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen who did not even make the start.

Nevertheless, facts are facts, and Hamilton leaves heads to the Japanese Grand Prix in a week's time with a handy 34 points lead with five races remaining in the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship.