After the build-up rehearsals Formula One is all abuzz anticipating the likelihood of a dramatic upturn in the championship chase with a spectacularly resurgent Ferrari poised to snatch the glory from long-running masters Mercedes.

The German legends may have won 51 of the last 59 grands prix, with three times champion Lewis Hamilton and current crown holder Nico Rosberg, now retired, in commandingly supreme form, but the widespread feeling is that Sebastian Vettel, freshly fired up, is all set and ambitious to put a stop to their title takeover.

Hamilton’s normally unshakeable confidence has been replaced with cautious optimism after the pre-season test session in Barcelona ahead of the opener in Australia when the Italian giants topped the times sheets and he confided: “I think Ferrari have been bluffing and they will be even quicker in Melbourne than they have been showing here in testing.”

Hamilton’s remarkable departure from ever giving credit to a rival is a strong indication that his and the rest of the Formula One line-up’s fears of a Ferrari revival after so long in the doldrums is a noteworthy warning.

Hamilton, bidding to ease worries among Mercedes followers that he might look too defeatist, even before the start of the 2017 campaign, was quick to underpin his own chances and he insisted: “The car not only looks great. It feels great. It is just fantastic to drive. And I believe we can improve even more.”

He is joined by team newcomer Valterri Bottas, the ultra-likeable Finn who settled into his new role with fitting panache and pace and he opined: “This is one beautiful package. It feels to me like a real winner. And with a team like ours, with us all getting on so well, with such a fantastic spirit I am sure we will be strong challengers.”

The cruellest of contrasts overshadows the under siege and abject McLaren outfit, doomed to failure by engine suppliers Honda’s inept power unit, which has turned the car into a veritable tortoise and which appears to be no improvement on last year’s, or the year’s before, and their inability to support the brilliantly gifted likes of Fernando Alonso.

The double-champion’s wrath at the team’s failure has been admirably publicly restrained if, behind the scenes, the Spaniard has been justifiably enraged and frustrated at the pathetic performance factors and questionable reliability. Maybe the fact that on around £32m-a-year (Dh146.7 million), with another year on his contract, as the highest-paid GP driver, has influenced his apparent acceptance of the inevitable. The shambolic team are going nowhere fast. Well … not so fast. And they have been struggling to even finish races. For a team with 182 wins and 12 drivers’ championships and eight constructors’ titles on their record, the flop must surely be a massive dent to their pride. Their last win was 2012 when Jenson Button topped the podium in Brazil. A distant memory. Embarrassing, too.

Even the usually taciturn team director Eric Boullier, having agonisingly watched McLaren complete fewer troubler-torn test laps than any of the rivals, has been moved to confess: “The team relationship with Honda is under maximum strain. We are in F1 and we have to perform. “The pressure is huge and we have to put maximum pressure on Honda for them to perform. We cannot afford to put a foot wrong. WE need to deliver. We need THEM to deliver.”

There is not much sign of that. And, ironically, their partnership is scheduled to last until 2024. One wonders if it will go the distance. I am told there are get-out clauses on both sides.

As for Alonso, now 35, he stresses: “I want victories and podiums. I want to quit as champion again. I Am a fighter. A winner. And I am frustrated that I am not right now in a position I most want. But I feel I am the best driver out there.”

Boullier, full of praise and admiration for the Spanish flyer, said: “Fernando is not happy because he wants to be able to fight for victory. He knows the situation we are in. He has prepared for this season in an incredible way. And he is extremely focused. As always. He is an example to everybody in the team, an inspiration who gives racing his all and his best effort and we need to help him. It is we, not him, who are the let-down.

“Will he stay with us? I don’t know. It has yet to be decided. But I hope so. We have not discussed the issue. His and our thoughts are locked onto the problems. And I have to point out that Fernando has never been so well prepared. He wants to resolve the engine problems and he wants to know what the next steps are. He is as involved as he can be. Deeply.”

The new-wave cars are bigger, beefier, brasher and are bursting with lap record potential — and the same alliterative abundance applies to the drivers who, rather than suffer starvation diets to fit into slimline narrow cockpits have been back at the teams’ HQ gymnasia piling on the pounds and the muscle to cope with the extra handling forces and physical demands.

Hamilton, supremely fit and now a bit bulkier, says: “I have put my body to the test. I need to be stronger. Even fitter than before. The car is faster, more physical to handle, a real beast!”

He and Vettel must be joint hot favourites to add to their count of world crowns, but I would venture two dark horses for them to keep an eye on … the Red Bull teenage sensation Max Verstappen and happy-go-lucky Aussie Daniel Ricciardo, an awesome twosome in the offing in a vastly improved car.

The scene is all set for a mind-blowing lap and race record-busting season. Mark my words ...