Former Formula 1 team boss Flavio Briatore doubts Ferrari will challenge for the title based on their performance in Australia.
Having appeared the team to beat after pre-season, their performance fell well short in both qualifying and the race with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc almost a minute behind race winner Valtteri Bottas.
"It will be very hard for them," he was quoted by GPFans.com. "Nothing has changed since last year. They had three months of winter to prepare the cars and Ferrari did not even close the gap to Mercedes."
Though Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third, the Italian seemingly ruled out his chances too, when predicting how 2019 will shape up.
"With Mercedes so strong, the only competition is between Hamilton and Bottas," he stated. "To beat them, Ferrari needs to recover eight or nine-tenths. I say Mercedes will continue to dominate.
"Yes Australia is atypical but if you are strong, you are strong everywhere. When the apologies begin at the first race, it will be very hard."
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Former F1 driver Bruno Senna disagrees though, precisely because of the unique nature of Albert Park.
"The first race does not represent the real progress of the championship," said the Brazilian.
"It was a sad first outing for Ferrari, but the Australian circuit is strange and unique and perhaps not so significant when evaluating the overall level of a car.
"In Bahrain, Ferrari will be able to do better," he concluded.
