Ferrari and Vettel are letting Mercedes off the hook

Malaysia was an own goal for Ferrari, and the second in two weeks. It was similar to Singapore, in that Ferrari had the car - or even the cars - to win the race, but tripped over itself. This time it was power unit problems rather than a crash at the start.

Sebastian Vettel's issue at the end of practice three forced a change of V6 engine and MGU-H, and after that rush he hit a turbo problem in Q1 and started last. Ferrari's best hope of victory was then Kimi Raikkonen, but he was struck by a suspected turbo problem on the formation lap.

Given that Raikkonen had qualified only 0.045 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, there was every chance he could also have finished ahead of the Mercedes driver and helped Vettel's title hopes.

Bad luck, you might say. But nothing happens without reason. Could the problems that cost Vettel and Raikkonen their shots at victory in Malaysia have been avoided if Ferrari had bitten the bullet and accepted that grid penalties for extra engine components were inevitable and introduced new parts at a strategically chosen race such as the Belgian Grand Prix? Maybe.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but you do need to adjust your plan as the season progresses using the available data. So this is one thing Ferrari will need to look at, because sometimes to prevent a bigger hit you have to accept a small one.

Ferrari as a team and Vettel as a driver showed they had made some pretty poor decisions

At a time in the season where Ferrari needs both cars to score big points, this is a major blow. Vettel drove a brilliant race to fourth, but he was still behind Hamilton. It's not good enough, and means he's now 34 points down with 125 to play for.

The mantra 'to finish first, first you have to finish' is one that always rings true in motorsport. Vettel could have and probably should have won both Singapore and Malaysia. Had that happened, the points situation would be very different and he could now be as much as 20 ahead.

You could say this is down to good luck for Mercedes and bad luck for Ferrari. But I've never believed in luck, because you make your own.

In these two races, Ferrari as a team and Vettel as a driver showed they had made some pretty poor decisions. Winning the championship is still possible, but it's now a very small chance and Ferrari has probably thrown it away.

With only five races remaining, Ferrari now needs to be getting one-twos to score big points and take them away from Hamilton. Had things gone as they should have done in Singapore and Malaysia, it would be a very different story.

After the Singapore GP, I said Red Bull could have a major influence in the outcome of the drivers' championship. When the team gets the best set-up to suit the car's strengths, it's a rocketship. In Malaysia, Max Verstappen proved that by passing Hamilton on his way to victory.

Once ahead, he just drove off into the distance. Yes, the two Ferraris weren't there, but I do believe Verstappen had the pace to compete with them if they were in the mix.

He's a driver who takes no prisoners and has showed how willing he is to get his elbows out in battle - and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo is the same. So it's a shame Red Bull didn't start the season more strongly because both could have contributed to a great fight for the title.

Going back to the need to finish, Mercedes has completed 1752 racing laps this year. That's second to Force India, which has managed one more lap. But Ferrari is down in fourth with 1537 laps completed.

As for Red Bull, it's last of the 10 teams with just 1254. That's one of the big reasons why any chance of winning another world championship this year is as dim and distant a memory as that glorious run of titles from 2010-13. Even if the car had been quick, the reliability - for Verstappen in particular - would have prevented it being a threat.

Looking at the racing laps completed by drivers in 2017, Hamilton is top of the pile with a total of 890. In fact, Malaysia was his 20th consecutive points finish.

Verstappen is the worst ranked of those who have contested the whole season with 513 laps. That's below even Fernando Alonso, who is driving a less-than-reliable McLaren, skipped the Monaco Grand Prix and couldn't start in Russia!

Sergio Marchionne is far from diplomatic and puts unnecessary pressure on Ferrari via the media

If you look at the list of most wins and laps led, it broadly reflects the order of the world championship. Hamilton has the most with seven wins and 415 laps led, while Vettel has four wins and 224 laps led. How different that might have been had Vettel and Ferrari made some different decisions...

The problem with Ferrari is that you never really know who makes the decisions or how some of them come about. Head honcho Sergio Marchionne is far from diplomatic and puts unnecessary pressure on the team via the media, which can create a situation where decisions are not team or engineering based - they are more political.

I usually found that decisions taken for the wrong reasons come back to bite you. That can make it harder at the time, but sometimes it's better to bite the bullet in the short-term and reap the rewards in the long-term.

The interesting thing that has come out of Malaysia is that the upgrades Ferrari and Red Bull brought worked, but those Mercedes tried didn't.

Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas ran in different specifications, using the old and the new spec respectively. That might be the one source of encouragement for Ferrari and other teams, who see that the might of Mercedes can trip up with its development direction.

Hamilton still managed to drag a lap out of the car to get a great pole position, but Bottas is someone who I thought would be giving him a hard time by this stage of the season. He was 0.682s slower in fifth place on the grid - and over the past four races he hasn't been within half-a-second of Hamilton in qualifying.

In the race it was even worse, as Bottas was 15s behind Hamilton by lap 16. By lap 23, the gap was 22s and by lap 31 it was 32s. A second per lap is a lifetime by F1 standards, even with a different car spec.

While I'm on about team-mates, Verstappen seems to have the upper hand on Ricciardo - at least in qualifying. And at McLaren, Stoffel Vandoorne seems to have come of age and is now finding his feet at the team. Using the older-spec car, as there was only one new spec available for Alonso, Vandoorne showed that when things keep running he can outpace the old maestro.

There were also some strange incidents during the weekend. The one between Vettel and Lance Stroll on the slowing-down lap was extremely unusual and the Ferrari driver, as always, was quick to apportion blame.

Yes, Stroll should have seen him. But it was probably the last thing the Williams driver was expecting to happen. Overtaking on slowing-down laps can be dangerous for drivers and marshals, so perhaps it's time the FIA made it simple and said no overtaking there.

We also saw Romain Grosjean crashing in second practice after his right-rear tyre was cut by hitting a loose drain cover. That brought back some memories.

Back in 1983, we headed to Macau to race Anson Formula 3 cars for the first time. Claudio Langes, who did make it to F1 but failed to qualify for any races during his 1990 season with EuroBrun, was one of the drivers. During a practice session, he failed to return to the pits.

A while later, he walked up and in his excited English tried to explain he was driving along the middle of the road and the car just exploded!

'A likely story,' I thought, telling him not to worry and that we would get the car fixed. He said it wasn't possible, but I was confident.

They stopped the practice about half an hour after the accident and when the car came back I discovered what had happened. There was a piece of 16mm steel plate about 45cm square bent double and embedded in the front of the engine - a manhole cover.

It was in the middle of the road, and normally cars drove over it with the wheels either side. Tommy Byrne, one of our other drivers, said he'd noticed a black square had appeared but thought no more of it.

That manhole cover hit the front of Langes' chassis and ripped off the lower wishbone suspension points. It was then deflected by the pull-rod suspension rocker, which was located just in front of his 'manly requirements' - so but for that he would have had a higher-pitched voice from then on.

It then took out the bottom of the chassis and embedded itself into the front of the engine. After seeing the extent of the damage, I had to revise my promise of being able to fix it.

Thirty-four years later and the same thing is still happening. Questions need to be asked about circuit specification and inspection procedures because this did a huge amount of damage and also put drivers at risk.

The late Barry Bland, who organised the Macau Grand Prix, managed to get us a cheque for £3500 to cover the loss of the car at its last race of the season. I wonder what Haas has been able to get out of the Malaysian GP organisers? Safe to say £3500 wouldn't come close to covering it.

Next weekend, F1 heads to Suzuka - a classic, fast, sweeping circuit that sorts the men from the boys.

Honda will probably have a special package for Alonso and Vandoorne, but it's the big battle between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull that I'm looking forward to.

Right now, I have no idea which will come out on top (and surely Ferrari won't give another gift to its rivals). Great, isn't it?