F1 Malaysian GP: Hamilton and Rosberg blame strategy and balance

Mercedes chose to pit both of its drivers during an early safety car period, which resulted in problems with traffic and tyre degradation.

According to the team's two drivers, it was those factors that stopped them from keeping Mercedes' winning streak alive.

"It was the plan from before the race, if safety car came on that lap then we would box," explained Rosberg, who dropped from third to ninth following that first stop as several midfield drivers joined Vettel in staying out and he lost further time queuing behind Hamilton.

"We didn't expect so many to stay out, and we didn't expect to lose time in the pitstop waiting for people to go by because the pitlane was so wide. We thought we could go alongside.

"So those were the problems, and then just getting through the pack afterwards was very difficult and cost a lot of tyre deg.

"I tried to fight back as much as possible, but I couldn't quite get back to Lewis.

"I lost a lot from that pitstop phase, but I'm happy I got close to Lewis."

HAMILTON COULDN'T GET BALANCE

Hamilton, who finished second, said that poor balance played a part in the result as well as the early stop.

"I don't know whether or not if I stayed out with [Vettel] if that would have made much of a difference," he said.

"They were probably just as good if not a little better in terms of tyre deg, so it would have been very close.

"Naturally, after the first stop, I just had so much ground to catch up, it was pretty much impossible.

"All day I was struggling with the balance, I had a lot of understeer so I couldn't really look after tyres.

"I was doing everything with the controls but couldn't find a good balance."

The world champion expressed frustration on team radio when he was given hard tyres rather than mediums for his final stint as he tried to chase down Vettel.

"When we went to the option [medium] tyre, the car was good, or better, so I could be a bit more consistent and close down the gap," he said.

"I was told it was not going to be that tyre [at the final stop] but we went onto the other which I knew wasn't good for me.

"I did the best I could. I think the team did the best choices they could today. We will analyse things tonight."

Mercedes explained to Hamilton that it only had used mediums available for his last stint and thought fresh hards would be faster.