Mercedes will reel in rivals this season, says F1's Smedley

Ferrari have cracked the code to set the pace in the new era of Formula One regulations but fans can expect the struggling Mercedes team to eventually find the right setup to compete this season, F1's Technical Consultant Rob Smedley told Reuters.

Ferrari, who have not won a title in over a decade, lead both the drivers and constructors standings after impressing in the first two races of the season.

But Mercedes, winners of the last eight constructors titles, are busy playing catch-up due to aerodynamics issues with their cars, with team boss Toto Wolff describing their travails as going through an "exercise in humility".

"Mercedes would be the first to admit that they haven't got it right. Ferrari have done a really good job in moving up and being right there with Red Bull," Smedley said in an interview.

"But I would expect that to change now more than any other year as people find big chunks of performance in lots of different areas.

"The development phase of the car is at such an immature stage, the cars will change significantly from the first race to the final race... There's going to be a very, very strong development curve on those cars."

Smedley, a former Ferrari race engineer, said it was brilliant for Formula One to have the Italian team, the "most iconic of all brands", fighting at the front again.

With Haas and Alpine also performing better than their midfield rivals so far, Smedley added that the large scale regulation change had given teams an opportunity to cause an "upset in the world order".

"It was always going to be the case that some would get it right and some would get it wrong," he added.

"I think that's the beauty, that's certainly what Formula One were hoping for in making the big regulatory changes,