While so far this year Ferrari and Mercedes have been closely matched at the front, with Red Bull a little bit behind them, all three teams are focusing on big developments for the next race in Barcelona on May 14.

While Ferrari and Red Bull are focused mostly on aerodynamics in a bid to find more lap time, it is understood that Mercedes will also be working to address bringing its car weight down – an issue that it believes has contributed to its balance problems in the early phases of the campaign.

For Lauda, who is non-executive chairman of Mercedes, the fact that the fight at the top is so close means that it is possible the whole competitive picture between his outfit and Ferrari could change.

"It's very simple, everyone will come with upgrades," said Lauda about his thoughts for the Spanish GP.

"The season will start new and whoever has the better upgrades, we don't know yet. But we will see in Barcelona, in practice and then in the race."

Driver battle

As well as the contest between teams, Mercedes also has the added interest of a potentially close fight between Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas won his maiden race in Russia and is now just 10 points behind Hamilton in the standings, proving that the fight for the title is unlikely to only be with Sebastian Vettel.

However, Lauda thinks it will still take some time to judge whether Bottas can build up momentum on the back of his Russian GP triumph.

"Nobody knows," he said when asked if Bottas was in the title fight. "This is one race, he has won his first race and now we have to wait and see. You cannot force this kind of thing.

"Bottas was quicker [in Russia] because he won the race but Lewis is an outstanding talent, a world champion. Bottas beat him but perhaps the next three times maybe Lewis will do that.

"You cannot say this but he is certainly a very good replacement for Nico, I have to say, because twice pole position and to win the fourth race is not a bad performance for us."