Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were expected to be well clear of the chasing pack after pre-season testing in Barcelona, with Haas F1 team's Gunther Steiner estimating their advantage was between one and 1.5s.

Amid Red Bull's struggles to set up its car for Melbourne, Haas driver Romain Grosjean - the midfield's top driver in Q3 - was within half a second of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, although he did trail poleman Lewis Hamilton by 1.9s.

In the race itself, Williams' Felipe Massa was the only midfield finisher not to be lapped, the Brazilian taking the chequered flag almost a minute down on Verstappen.

Fernley, whose Force India team was a lap down with both cars, said the situation was down to the top three's "ridiculous" spending advantage.

Speaking about the gap between top three and midfield, he said: "I think it's going to probably get worse.

"That's the worrying part about it, and that's the bit that I think Liberty are seeing very much as a concern for the show. And rightly so. And I think hopefully that will get addressed in the coming months.

"At the moment it's just how much money you can spend. Whilst you've got that, the disparity is just ridiculous."

The Force India man reiterated his desire to see cost controls in F1, but admitted he did not expect any changes to come in time to affect the 2017 campaign.

"I don't think anything can be done this season but it can be brought in progressively. We are where we are, but the fact that, if there's a willingness to make those moves and they [Liberty] do make them - which I believe they're keen to do, then it can only benefit the sport going forward.

"And we've also got to be respectful of those teams. If they've got to cut back, we've got to do it in a way that allows them to do it in a dignified manner.

"It's not their fault that they're where they are – it's the process that's wrong."

BWT sponsorship makes Force India "more comfortable"

Fernley said that the sponsorship deal with water technology company BWT - one that has led to the Indian outfit running an all-new pink livery on its cars - would serve to make the team "more comfortable" financially, although he conceded it was unlikely to seriously affect its standing in the F1 2017 development race.

"The good thing is that we've got Vijay who's always behind the team, so within reasonable parameters we've never cut back on development, we've always been able to get there - and I think we proved that year in, year out," Fernley said.

"I don't think it [the sponsorship] is going to make any massive difference [to development], it just makes it more comfortable."

He also said: "I would go so far to say it's probably one of the biggest commercial deals that's been in Formula 1 for a while.

"What pleases me is that - A, it's a great deal; B, it's brought a very individual process to it in terms of colourization; and C, it's an industry that's never been covered in Formula 1 before so, again, it's a great move."