Haas F1 boss Guenther Steiner has revealed he thinks the so called "bigger" teams, like Mercedes and Ferrari, will start the 2019 season even further ahead.
There are rule changes being brought into place in 2019 in an attempt to try and make Formula One more competitive and less predictable.
However, Steiner thinks it could have the reverse affect and Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull could become even more dominant at the start and run away from the "midfield" teams, like Haas.
Haas managed a fifth-placed finish in 2018, an all-time high for the American outfit - powered by the Ferrari power unit - but trying to push even further forward could be an issue for Steiner's side.
"Absolutely, that risk is always there (of teams getting even further ahead)," Steiner said to RaceFans.net. "But with the gap this big, it should (be), and couldn't be any different.
"Because this is good people working at a high level and if they've got this more resources they should be doing better than the other ones, otherwise they're doing something wrong.
"So I think in the beginning the gap should be bigger between the big ones and the smaller ones because there's just so many more resources to get there. And they have more resources, they get even quicker."
Haas will start the '19 season with the same driver line-up as last season; with Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean continuing for the team.