Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says his team has learned from the mistakes of Melbourne, where Lewis Hamilton lost victory in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton finished second in the race despite controlling the opening half, falling behind Vettel during a virtual safety car period when the German made his sole pit stop.

It left Mercedes scrambling to understand how it had been jumped, with the team revealing an ‘offline tool’ was to blame.

“We suspected that the new season would be close fought and the first race confirmed those suspicions,” Wolff said.

“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,” Wolf added.

“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.”

With Valtteri Bottas capable of only eighth after a crash in qualifying left him buried in the pack, and Ferrari recording a 1-3 finish, Mercedes currently trails Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

Ferrari heads the standings on 40 points, while Mercedes is on 22 points, just two clear of Red Bull.

The F1 season continues at the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.