Ross Brawn insists it is only a matter of time before Mercedes GP close the gap after losing out to Ferrari, Red Bull and McLaren in Bahrain.

Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished fifth and sixth respectively at the season-opener, but neither driver featured in the top 10 of fastest lap.

Schumacher, the quicker of the two Mercedes drivers over a single lap, was almost a full two seconds slower than the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.

However, Brawn is confident that his 2010 challenger, the W01, is "fundamentally strong", giving the team to the foundations on which to build.

"The team did a good job in Bahrain but we accept that we were not competitive enough and that we have work to do to close the gap to the leaders," said Brawn.

"I was very pleased with the performance of Nico and Michael and the way that they worked together to provide clear and consistent feedback to develop the car over the weekend.

"Whilst our car is fundamentally strong, we have a development plan in place for the next few races which should bring the required performance improvements to compete at the front."

After a week's break following Bahrain, Formula One is now heading into its first round of back-to-back races in Australia and Malaysia with Brawn hopeful that F1 will put the Bahrain bore-fest behind it.

"Looking ahead to the next two races, the Australian Grand Prix is always a popular race with the teams and the fans so we hope to see a more exciting race at Albert Park next weekend," said Brawn.

"We then head to Malaysia for the home race of our title partner Petronas. With an exciting programme of activities scheduled at the Petronas Pit Pulse fan zone in Kuala Lumpur, it will be a busy and enjoyable fortnight for the team."