Ahead of the first Sprint of the season, Toto Wolff admits that it will take time before Mercedes can match the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull.

Despite starting on the back foot, the world champions head to the fourth round of the season second in both championships.

However, Toto Wolff knows that the reliability issues being experienced by Red Bull will not continue for much longer and that therefore what we are seeing at the moment is not a true snapshot of the standings.

Team boss, Toto Wolff is the first to admit that there is much work to be done.

"Melbourne was a great weekend for Formula One," he says as he looks forward to this weekend's race at Imola, "the atmosphere was incredible, and it was wonderful to be back in Australia in front of so many fans. For us, the race went better than we expected, especially after a difficult Friday.

"George and Lewis were both on strong form all weekend and delivered a useful haul of points for the Team. We learned a lot and really maximised the opportunities available, and that's what we need to keep doing.

"We know we haven't got the pace of the Ferrari and Red Bull right now," he admits, "but we're working hard to reduce their advantage, and it's been brilliant to see everyone across the factories pulling together to achieve this.

"There's been a lot of hard work over the Easter weekend in the factory to bring improvements to the car and get it ready to head to the next race, and that shows the team's dedication to turning the situation around.

"Of course, we must be realistic, it will take time to make the gains we want, but we're learning as much as we can from each race and finding avenues to push us forward."