What to expect in Bahrain: Fast Ferraris, Mercedes power

Team to watch: Ferrari

• The SF16-H is a demon starter and the threat Ferrari can pose to Mercedes this year became obvious when the red lights went out and Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen immediately passed the two silver cars in the first race of the season.
• The long, wide run into turn one in Bahrain gives Ferrari a real chance if they can get their noses in front of the Mercedes pair.
• The searing temperatures of Bahrain also give them a chance as they will not be as wary of generating heat in the harder compound tyres. Indeed, back in Australia, had Ferrari put Vettel on the medium compounds during the race suspension, many believe they could have won the race.
• Having been 1.4s off Mercedes' pace in qualifying in Australia last year, Ferrari halved that gap this year. And Bahrain is traditionally a circuit which suits them better - last year Vettel out-qualified Nico Rosberg's Mercedes.
• This all points towards the red cars having a strong weekend. And it may be Kimi Raikkonen's time to shine: he's been out-raced by his Ferrari team-mates over the past two seasons but with three second places in his last four visits to Bahrain he clearly has an affinity for this track.

Also on the radar: Mercedes (and customers)

• The performance of Mercedes' power unit on Bahrain's long straights is not to be underestimated. Last year Mercedes-powered cars set the top five fastest speeds and had a whopping 13kph in hand over the Renaults. That will hand a significant advantage to the silver cars and their customer teams Williams, Force India and Manor.

McLaren

• Stoffel Vandoorne will make his F1 debut replacing Fernando Alonso, whose rib injury has ruled him our of Bahrain and possibly Shanghai. Vandoorne won the GP2 Series last year but found himself without a drive in F1 before his late substitution for Alonso. Vandoorne has talent, but the circumstances aren't exactly ideal for him to make an impact.

Force India

• Force India have historically been strong in Bahrain - Sergio Perez reached the podium at this track two years ago - and the team expect to be competitive again this weekend. In Australia, Force India didn't make the cut for the pole position shoot-out. But this arguably put them at an advantage as under F1's complex rules it meant they were the highest cars on the grid which could start the race on new tyres. They may be able to take the same benefit in Bahrain.

Haas

• Before the opening race it seemed Haas would face a challenge just to get to the finish. But they defied expectations by not only finishing, but taking an extraordinary sixth place. Did Haas get lucky? Yes. But did they take maximum advantage of that good luck? Absolutely - with smart strategy on the pit wall and cool-headed driving by Romain Grosjean. But it may prove hard for them to hit the same heights again in the near future.