Alonso doubts Ferrari can beat Mercedes ’regularly’

Even after Ferrari’s breakthrough win, Fernando Alonso insists he has no regrets about swapping the Maranello team for the back of the grid.

"Looking forward!" he wrote on Twitter after Sepang, where his Ferrari replacement Sebastian Vettel sensationally won. "Very happy!"

A Reuters reporter, however, admitted he feels a "twinge of pity" for the 33-year-old Spaniard, while The Times said Malaysia had left Alonso "red-faced".

Italy’s Corriere della Sera said: "Sebastian leaves the Alonso era behind and leads us back to where the Ferrari success story was interrupted."

Alonso himself, however, insists he has no regrets about having joined McLaren-Honda, as he thinks Mercedes is still clearly the dominant team in F1.

"Ferrari has progressed, yes," he is quoted by Spain’s El Mundo Deportivo. "But enough to beat Mercedes regularly? I don’t think so."

Indeed, many others in the paddock also expect the pecking order to resume the silver hue in Shanghai, the scene of the forthcoming Chinese grand prix in two weeks.

Pat Symonds, Williams’ technical boss, thinks Ferrari’s Sepang win was related to the very high temperatures last weekend.

"As soon as it warms up," he told Auto Motor und Sport, "the Mercedes has problems with its rear tyres.

"It reminds me of their problems in the years 2010 to 2013," said Symonds.

Nico Rosberg admitted Mercedes has work to do after Malaysia.

"I’m flying to England this week as we need to sit down as a team and draw the right conclusions from our defeat in Malaysia," he told Bild newspaper.

"Vettel’s pace was pretty scary and it was totally unexpected.

"I particularly want to know why we had so many problems with the tyres," he added.