Motorsport: Big F1 names struggle as Mercedes start to open big gap

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo prepares to race in the Bahrain GP. Pictures / Getty Images

Three races down in the 2014 Formula One season and fans of the blue-riband event of motorsport are still a little confused. The opening race in Australia had millions of fans tuned in to see how the new cars with their turbo engines would fare, and other than the lack of noise it was a cracker of a race.

The second race in Kuala Lumpur was a snooze fest, but things got interesting again in Bahrain with teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton banging wheels. This weekend in China should be interesting as a few teams used to being at the front are struggling.

Red Bull Racing and Ferrari will have to sort something out quickly if they want to stay in touch with early runaways Mercedes.

Merc pilot Nico Rosberg has the wood on former world champion and teammate Lewis Hamilton at the moment 61 points to 50 points, with nearest contenders Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso 22 points and 24 points back respectively.

Force India with Hulkenberg behind the wheel are in third and picking up points on a regular basis.

The first of the big teams to blink in the run up to the race in Shanghai are Ferrari, who have parted ways with team principal Stefano Domenicali.

The CEO and president of Ferrari North America, Marco Mattiacci, has replaced Domenicali.

Meanwhile, back in the Red Bull camp things aren't getting much better. Not only is Sebastien Vettel having to mentally come to grips with the idea he doesn't have the best kit underneath any more, and might have to dig deep into his driving skill set, his young teammate Daniel Ricciardo is getting better results.

Red Bull's problems early in the season have been compounded by Ricciardo's appeal over his disqualification in Melbourne being thrown out and so confirming his exclusions from the results. While Red Bull and Ferrari are running around trying to get a handle on what's going wrong, the Williams' outfit is quietly going about rebuilding its reputation as a race team which can be at the front of the pack.

This is due in part because of young Finn Valtteri Bottas, who's come on in leaps and bounds since his rookie year in 2013. In what some may call an average car, Bottas sits eighth in the championship.

Long-time Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley has moved down pit lane to start working for the Grove-based Williams team and reckons Bottas is very fast and has the goods to get the job done.

Bahrain winner Lewis Hamilton (right) and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

McLaren are another team who appear to be going through a bit of a renaissance. This could partly be because Ron Dennis has taken over the reins again, but it's more likely to be because of the signing of rocket ship Kevin Magnussen.

The Shanghai track has one of the longest straights on the calendar and will suit teams who have managed to get the new engine package to fly. Vettel and Red Bull will be hoping, along with Ferrari, they've found the missing gizmo to get their cars going flat out, and Vettel will be desperate to emulate his 2009 race there when he won his first F1 Grand Prix.

Keep an eye on Kimi Raikkonen and young Toyota Racing Series graduate Daniil Kvyat this weekend. The former is getting a bit grumpy about his lack of form so far, so might just spark up and manhandle his Ferrari to a top finish, while the latter, like Magnussen, is not afraid of the big stage.