How different will F1 2015 be?

An exclusive battle at the front between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes engines the benchmark. Teams at the back facing financial difficulties. The spectre of customer cars still alive and well.

You could be forgiven for thinking that Formula 1 begins its new season in Australia this weekend with not much having changed since the garages were packed up in Abu Dhabi last year. In fact, it seems that the margin between both ends of the grid has got wider.

At the front, Mercedes has admitted to taking a step forward over the winter with its speed and reliability. That's pretty demoralising for the opposition, which had hoped the last few months would have allowed them to close the gap.

The two Mercedes drivers look set to duke it out for the title again © LAT

Key figures at front-running teams are in agreement that while the order of the Williams/Red Bull/Ferrari chasing pack is hard to work out right now, one thing is clear: the Silver Arrows are well clear.

One of Mercedes' main rivals suggested that, after data crunching the winter testing times, the ultimate advantage Mercedes has available (although may not choose to use) is at least one second per lap. Could they lap the entire field?

So while the front of the grid appears to have marched forward, the problems at the back have amplified too. F1's minnows declared last year that they won't survive under the sport's current business model. Their pleas were ignored.

The result was that Force India's cashflow problems meant its new car missed the first two tests. Now, Sauber has found itself in court in Switzerland and Australia over a dispute with Giedo van der Garde about who will race for the team in Melbourne.

It's been a terribly messy start, with other money issues bubbling away under the surface, ready to erupt in the coming weeks.

For all the lack of change in F1, you can't help but sense that something is going to have to give imminently. It's inconceivable that the sport won't be forced to change direction over the next few months if it's not to sleepwalk into big trouble.

It's no secret that last year the sport had to do a lot of soul-searching to try to work out why, after a regulation overhaul and some pretty exciting racing at the front, audience figures were in decline.

Will a close battle behind Mercedes be enough to keep the fans interested this year? © LAT

The fantastic (and sometimes controversial) battles between Hamilton and Rosberg were not enough to attract more people, as F1's move to pay-television channels and reluctance to embrace wider digital media bit hard into the viewing numbers.

Of bigger concern now is, if the appetite was not there in 2014, with new teams and new drivers at the front, what will happen if this season proves to be a less-thrilling repeat of last year? What if Mercedes is right and its car is even faster and more reliable?

In a world where the younger generation demands instant gratification, will they stomach the same team and the same drivers delivering the same result week in, week out? Or will they go and do something else instead?

If that stampede for the exit does happen, then F1 is going to have to react. The response will either come on track - which means perhaps unfairly trying to stop the Mercedes steamroller - or off it, through a proper promotional and marketing push to win the audience back.

That means F1's ambivalence to social media and obsession with protecting exclusive television rights is going to have to stop. You cannot turn off the means of keeping your audience interested just because they won't pay you in the short term.

On the costs front too, F1 cannot continue on its current path.

The van der Garde/Sauber row means F1 starts 2015 in a wave of negative PR © LAT

The bigger teams don't want any major cost-cutting measures introduced because that might impact on their ability to spend their way to success.

Equally, the smaller teams don't want a massive overhaul of the rules that would result in the arrival of customer cars because that robs them of their identity.

But such resistance to embrace change is a recipe for disaster for both big and small teams.

If the top teams don't agree to cutting budgets, then F1's spending war risks pricing even some of them out of the market - £300 million budgets will only continue being signed off if you are winning.

If the bigger teams can dig their heels in, then the minnows may be forced to embrace either a move to 'customer' or 'core' cars - or decide it's time to shut up shop and go and do something else. Carrying on as we are is not an option.

The calls for an overhaul may not be deafening yet, but the voices are getting louder.

This is not a doomsday prognosis for F1, though. Instead, when change comes, it will ultimately be for the better.

More competitiveness, greater fan interest and improved sustainability are the key elements to a successful future for F1.

It's just that there may be more pain to get through before it can happen.