On Day 2 of the final Bahrain test, Lewis Hamilton completed five laps sporting a rear wing that flipped 180° when the SF-26 activated Straight Mode, and by doing so, also sent the F1 paddock into something of a frenzy.

Haas' Ollie Bearman even said he thought the rear wing was broken when following Hamilton at Sakhir, commenting: "I was, f***, like what happened? I thought it was broken. Honestly it's super innovative and it looks pretty slick as well."

For Coulthard, however, the radical rear wing could just be "a little side project" aimed at distracting rival teams and diverting their attention from more important upgrades.

On the Up to Speed podcast, Coulthard said: "It could be a complete distraction technique.

“Putting a design team in to look at it, which then means they are not utilising those resources to look at their own cars."

Whether or not Ferrari use the rear wing at the season opener in Melbourne certainly remains to be seen, as team principal Fred Vasseur was coy when asked about the innovation in Bahrain.

Vasseur told media, including GPblog: "I think everybody is doing innovation. Sometimes it’s visible, sometimes it’s not.

“I’m sure that our competitors and everybody on the grid is doing exactly the same.

“It’s true that the last two bits that we bought on track were visible from outside, but it’s not a big difference with the others.

“I don’t know if it will be for Melbourne or for the next one [in China]."

Tipped to be among Ferrari's main rivals at Melbourne, Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has previewed the opening race at Albert Park, explaining why the Silver Arrows and other teams can expect "quite a bit of a shock" in Australia, with the young Italian concerned over energy management.