Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Toto Wolff
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain has a tyre change during the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, March 26, 2017. Reuters/Brandon Malone

Mercedes won 19 out of 21 races during the 2016 Formula One season and don't plan to slow down anytime soon despite Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari claiming victory in the Australian Grand Prix. Though analysts reckon the prancing red horse are a legitimate threat to win the title this year, Mercedes believe they have the car, the technology, the knowhow and the driver to win their fifth consecutive constructors' championship.

After Hamilton won the drivers' title in 2014 and 2015, retired German Nico Rosberg captured the 2016 championship to extend Mercedes' dominance over the sport. Ferrari haven't been in the title picture since 2015 when Vettel finished the season third in the drivers’ standings behind Hamilton and Rosberg. In fact, Vettel hasn't had a real shot at winning a championship since his penultimate season with Red Bull in 2013.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes that Ferrari won the season-opener at Melbourne Park due to pace and not strategy, while drawing positives from the race and calling it a wakeup call for his engineers. "It's personality-building (the loss in the Australian Grand Prix). I think you just lose some and you win some. We have been very fortunate in the last three years that we won most of the races. And now it's about accepting that here Ferrari beat us. We will come back stronger. We didn't have great testing and we didn't have a great Sunday (in Australia), but we will leave no stone unturned in order to win more," said Wolff, via ESPN.

Australian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton forced into early pit stop

Following Sunday's race, some felt that Ferrari's quick car caught Mercedes off guard, forcing Hamilton into a premature pit stop, a move which eventually cost the champions dearly. However, Wolff defended his team's decision and denied the allegation that the call was a sign of complacence and rustiness on part of the pit wall.

"Even if we won all those races and it looked like it was easy, it was clear that it wasn't. We were always sceptical whether it was good enough, and we always tried to see the negatives in everything we did, and look at the worst-case scenario. That is why we always considered Red Bull or Ferrari to be real competitors. And they were. So therefore the perception or the perspective is still absolutely the same," said Wolff, reiterating that his drivers and engineers weren't complacent despite their recent history of dominance.

Wolff added that Ferrari putting out a competitive car is a healthy sign for the state of the sport. "Losing is always personality building, and I'd much rather win than lose. But it is part of F1. We have had an exceptional run the last three years. I have always said this is outlier, you can't expect this to continue forever. It was clear that the moment was going to come where we need to lose with humility, and accept that somebody else has done a better job. And this is just what happened. They have done a great job. Their car is fast. Sebastian is a well-deserved race winner."

The 2017 Formula One season will now move to the Shanghai International Circuit for the Chinese Grand Prix between Apr 7 and 9. Mercedes' Nico Rosberg won last year's race en route to his first and only drivers’ championship.