Lewis Hamilton is favourite to win the Spanish Grand Prix for a fourth time, and third in a row, on Sunday and retake the Formula One world championship lead from Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Needless to say, Ferrari have another script in mind for the 2.10pm race seen as something of a litmus test for their title prospects.
Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc dominated pre-season testing at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya amid excited talk of Ferrari ending Mercedes’ five-year stranglehold on the sport.
They return reeling from four successive Mercedes one-two finishes, an unprecedented start to the season by any team, and hoping an engine upgrade - brought forward by two races - will swing things their way.
If Mercedes are again quicker at such a benchmark circuit, where the champions have won four times in the last five years, the writing will be on the wall for the Italian team. They need to step up a gear and start turning things around.
Both teams have been talking up the other’s chances.
Ferrari’s Vettel says: “The last four races, on average, we were not quite there so I think we are not the favourites going to Barcelona.”
Mercedes principal Toto Wolff, meanwhile, says: “The results seem to paint a relatively clear picture, but the truth is that they’re too flattering. The performance has fluctuated in the first four races.
“Our opponents were blisteringly quick in winter testing, so the Spanish Grand Prix will be anything but easy.”