"It was a wake-up call, it’s going to remind us it’s not an easy ride," Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff said after champion Lewis Hamilton and team mate Nico Rosberg finished second and third.
"There is fierce competition out there and we can’t afford to be complacent and can’t make any mistakes. We need to continue to develop flat out and I think it (the defeat) is the right thing at the right time, probably.
"We’ve got a massive battle out there," the Austrian added.
Mercedes had arrived in Sepang after a one-two in Australia that had rivals wondering whether the Silver Arrows could be beaten this season.
Hamilton's pole on Saturday was Mercedes's 13th in a row and the German constructor, dominant since the introduction of the V6 turbo hybrid power unit, had won the last eight races.
But Sepang did not go to plan, with Ferrari and Vettel claiming their first wins since 2013 while Mercedes struggled on the softer medium-compound tyres and made strategic errors.
"It’s very easy after the race to point the finger on a particular situation, a particular decision and say that was to blame. I think in hindsight there were many things we could have optimised," said Wolff.
Hamilton said Ferrari had simply managed the tyres better.
"After the first stop, I just had so much ground to catch up, it was pretty much impossible," said the Briton. "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."
Vettel stayed out when the safety car was deployed while the Mercedes drivers pitted, with Rosberg losing more time when he had to wait behind Hamilton for fresh tyres and then to be released.
Rosberg also complained that the subsequent fight through the pack cost him a lot in tyre degradation.
"We have to analyse the whole thing. I don’t think we could have won the race even with the Ferrari strategy," said the team's non-executive chairman and former triple champion Niki Lauda.
"I think the Ferrari car and its engine and Sebastian were quicker and better. We have to take our hats off (to them) and work hard."
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
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