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ALL eyes are on Bahrain as the most thrilling of Formula One seasons in recent history moves on to race three this coming weekend with honours even between the two high-flying rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari, writes Stan Szecowka.

Chapter three of their promising battle takes place under the lights of the Sakhir circuit, where temperatures will be a good 20C higher than on a chilly 12C day in Shanghai.

Both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel share two victories each in the desert race and one win and a second place apiece this season with the German taking the first race in Australia and the Brit hitting back last Sunday in China.

And one man behind the scenes has had a taste in both camps. Highly-distinguished Formula 1 engineer James Allison, who has won world championships with both Ferrari and Renault, in addition to holding senior leadership roles in both teams, only signed up for Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport last month.

“We head to Bahrain on a high but we know we will be back to square one in terms of fighting a very strong opposition,” said Allison, who joined Mercedes in the newly-created role of technical director. “We know that we will have to be absolutely on top of our game to do well there.”

He added that ‘all focus’ is now on the race at the Bahrain International Circuit and trying to repeat the ‘great result’ in China. ‘Every single victory in Formula 1 feels great’ he said but last weekend’s victory for Hamilton was particularly satisfying after coming away from Melbourne without the win – ‘it’s nice to get that monkey off our back’.

Toto Wolff, head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport, believes the new recruit could make all the difference. “Our technical team is extremely skilled at every level and at the top of its game after delivering three world championships in a row. It wasn’t an easy task to find the right personality who can strengthen our experienced group of engineers, give our talented young team members the space to develop and also bring his own vision to this role.

“James is a sharp engineer. I think we have found the perfect guy and the right fit with our senior leaders.”

His insight into the competition should prove fruitful too. Allison departed Ferrari midway through the 2016 season and appears to be enjoying his return to the Formula One grid this year.

The last three years of Mercedes domination led to fan disquiet about the state of the sport, and at least in part to the decision to change the rules to produce faster, more demanding cars this year.

That move now looks to have paid off. Mercedes find themselves locked in a battle with a Ferrari team whose car appears to be at least as fast, and Hamilton faces a fight with a rival who he truly respects as being close to an equal.

The three-time British world champion’s excitement is clearly eveident. He told reporters after victory in China about the ‘hugely respectful competitiveness’ between himself and Vettel and of this being the ‘most exciting’ season of his career.

He also believes this season’s championship fight could be ‘one of the closest ones, if not the closest’, he has ever experienced.

As for Bahrain this coming weekend, Hamilton believes the weather may be a factor. “Being that it’s often a warmer race, Ferrari is very good in hotter conditions,” Hamilton admitted. “I think they will be very, very quick in the next race but there’s a lot of straights there as well and we’ve obviously got, I think, still the strongest power unit on the grid - so that will come into play.”

Vettel has lived through a number of false dawns at Ferrari but the four-times world champion, cruised to his second win at Albert Park and 43rd overall, proving in Australia that the Ferrari cars’ encouraging winter testing was not just a mirage.

China’s second spot was no dampener to his confidence either. Vettel said: “The safety car came just as I was about to start to feel the dry tyres were a lot quicker but then I had a very exciting race. I was stuck in the train for a little while but then tried to chase down Lewis. It was a good match. It was good fun.”

Hamilton agreed: “In those final 20 laps Seb and I were just pounding around as fast as we could, exchanging fastest lap times, that’s what racing is all about,” he said. “In the future there will be times when we don’t have a Safety Car and we won’t have that gap. I’m excited for that. It’s very close and there were times when it was hard to match Sebastian.”

Bring it on, Bahrain!