Mercedes told to stay 'careful' after Ferrari's Hungarian GP win

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff has warned the world champions need to remain “careful” and not to let Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari get any closer to them in the points standings when the season resumes in Belgium.

The Brackley team went into the summer break on the back of an unusually poor performance in the chaotic Hungarian GP when neither title leader Lewis Hamilton nor second-placed Nico Rosberg finished on the podium - the first time that had happened since F1’s present engine regulations were introduced last year.

With Hamilton and Rosberg ending up only sixth and eighth respectively, Ferrari’s Vettel claimed his second impressive win of 2015. The result moved Vettel 42 points behind Hamilton in the championship - the equivalent of a race victory and second-place finish - while he is now within a win of Rosberg.

Although Mercedes remain in the box seat for another title double, Wolff, Mercedes’ motorsport boss, says the drama of Hungary showed how quickly the situation can change round and how they have to guard against slip-ups at all times.

"You just need to be careful. We’re just 42 points ahead in the Drivers’ World Championship and you can see how quickly it goes. You have a bad day, two cars not scoring good points and ‘boom’ you go backwards," Wolff said.

"But that is a mentality we’re having anyway of always being a bit sceptical about how we are doing."

While beaten on Sunday for just the second time this season, Mercedes could take solace from the fact that Hamilton in particular had looked dominant all weekend at the Hungaroring up until his race was sent into a tailspin by a dramatic opening lap.

Wolff, however, is keen to understand why Rosberg steadily slipped back from the Ferraris.

"Somehow we struggled with Nico’s car and he was there and he couldn’t really make the pace. Lewis had a good pace," he said.

"But does it come a surprise that Ferrari’s strong? No. You cannot over simplify it and say 'they have been better in the hot before and we are better in the cooler conditions'. I think it’s a particular circuit and we weren’t quick enough on pure pace with one car, which we need to analyse, and then we did a couple of mistakes and Lewis had the incidents on track.

"It’s all good within the team, we just need to get out stronger from this."

The championship run-in will effectively begin at next week’s Belgian GP and Mercedes are already clear favourites to return to winning ways at circuit which should amplify both the W06’s engine and aerodynamic strengths.

Asked if he was expecting a stronger weekend, Rosberg said: "I think we’ll be very quick in Spa, yes for sure."