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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has hit back at Red Bull's suggestion the FIA should step in to close the gap between the Silver Arrows and the rest of the field.

Mercedes' F1 domination looks set to spill into a second year after Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg won the season-opening Australian Grand Prix by over 30 seconds on Sunday. The victory and Red Bull's troubles led Horner to call for some form of equalisation of performance, but Wolff's advice is for his rivals to buckle down and resolve the issues through hard work.

"If you come into Formula One, try to beat each other and perform at the highest level and then you need equalisation after the first race - you cry out after the first race - that's not how we've done things in the past," he said. "I think just get your f***ing head down, work hard and try to sort it out. I didn't mean the F-word in relation to him [Horner]," he clarified.

Asked if 2015 could become a season dictated by politics, Wolff added: "It is always a political season, it was last year and it is this year. There is this wall in Jerusalem that you can stand in front and complain, maybe the guys should go there."

Wolff said the progress Ferrari has made over the winter is proof the gap can be overcome.

"We've won the race with about half a minute to the Ferrari, and if you consider what jump they have made from last year to this year that is pretty impressive and it's just the first year. What we have seen from the GPS data is that the engine is really powerful and the car is really good.

"I'm really happy because all of the objectives we have set ourselves we've achieved and the power unit was always the benchmark and now aerodynamically what we see on the track and in the data is that we seem to have a very good car in all types of corners.

"But I think it's just a matter of time [before others catch up] because Ferrari have it all: they have all the resources, the right people, the right drivers and it's a matter of time until when they can reduce the gap.

"Half a minute is not the world, it's not like we have lapped the whole field. Equally, Williams was very good today and Valtteri [Bottas] wasn't even in the race. It is just the first race of 20 in the season, so let's see what happens in Malaysia."

Laurence Edmondson is deputy editor of ESPNF1

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