Melbourne error 'training' for Mercedes - Wolff

Mercedes chief Toto Wolff is treating the Silver Arrows' mistake at the Australian Grand Prix as "training". Lewis Hamilton will be hoping to get the better of Sebastian Vettel at this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix after losing out in Melbourne.

Ferrari capitalised on a Virtual Safety Car period to nudge Vettel into the outright lead at Albert Park, with Hamilton unable to secure the victory that an impressive performance all weekend had perhaps deserved.

A "bug" in Mercedes' systems cost them in the season-opener, but Wolff is confident that the constructors' champions can use it to become better in Bahrain.

"We suspected that the new season would be close-fought and the first race confirmed those suspicions," says Toto.

"We made mistakes and did not perform to our maximum - and it reminded us that this is the toughest racing series in the world, where every error is punished.

"It hurt to leave all those points on the table, especially because we know we had the pace to win in Australia.

"Back at base, we did what we always do after a tough weekend.

"We made sure that we understand what went wrong and put a process in place to make sure that we don't see a similar issue in the future.

"These painful moments are the real learning experiences. Mistakes become training."

Mercedes lost out to Ferrari in Bahrain last year as Vettel got the better of a pole-sitting Valtteri Bottas and Wolff predicts another tough task in the desert.

"We expect Bahrain to be another challenging weekend, although the challenges will be of a completely different nature," he explained.

"The race in the desert is tricky because the conditions change drastically between sessions. FP1 and FP3 take place in the heat of the day whereas qualifying and the race itself take place after sunset so it's much cooler. That makes it extremely difficult to find the right set-up with the car.

"Bahrain is also a power-sensitive race with the long straights. We saw in Melbourne that the Ferraris in particular were very quick, so I expect it to be a close battle.

"We've seen some great racing in Bahrain in recent years, particularly between our drivers back in 2014, so I think we can look forward to an exciting and competitive weekend."