Haas' Guenther Steiner believes Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are already about 1.5 seconds clear of the rest of the 2017 field!
With just two weeks to go before the lights turn green in Melbourne, the top three teams enjoy a clear edge, according to Steiner, although it's still unclear who will lead the grid in Australia.
The assessment hasn't taken Steiner by surprise, it's only a logical outcome based on power and resources.
"Between the top three and the other ones it is between one second and 1.5 seconds I think," he said.
"It is aero, and we need to work on it. It won't be for Australia. The big teams will always have more resources to do it, and this is to be expected.
"There is no surprise that Mercedes and Ferrari and Red Bull came out better than everybody else. They have more resources to do more testing and that is what it is."
The Austrian team manager ax-actually believes the gap could grow as a frantic development pace takes hold among the top contenders.
"It will not get smaller in my opinion.
"But maybe the gains further up you get the smaller they get, so the smaller teams can make bigger gains because they are further behind."
Steiner is also watching Williams, which could breakout from the chasing pack and make inroads into the top three's dominance.
"I think the Williams is a little bit better than the big group .... I don't know about the Renault. We need a few more days and in Australia we find out. It's getting quite clear."
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