Ferrari, 2017 Formula One Season, Melbourne Grand Prix
Formula One - F1 - Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne, Australia - 26/03/2017 - Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany crosses the finish line to win the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Reuters / Mark Horsburgh

After Sebastian Vettel claimed victory in the Melbourne Grand Prix, the season-opener of the 2017 Formula One season, Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas conceded that Ferrari is a legitimate threat to his team's chances of winning a fourth consecutive constructors title. Vettel, the four-time F1 world champion, went through the 2016 season without a victory as Ferrari struggled to keep pace with Mercedes, who won 19 of the 21 races.

Although Vettel benefitted from a questionable strategy call from the Mercedes pit wall which saw race leader Hamilton pit rather early, both Ferrari drivers executed a near flawless performance through 58 laps at Albert Park on Sunday. Vettel captured his first win since the 2015 Singapore GP, signalling the end of Mercedes' domination since the inception of faster cars.

Several analysts reckon that Ferrari were simply too quick for Mercedes, forcing the world champions into a premature pit stop. Hamilton pitted into the seventeenth lap after complaining of a loss of grip in his tyres, switching from the ultra-soft compound to softer tyres. He dropped to fifth behind the two Ferraris, teammate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen before finishing the race in the podium.

Super quick Ferrari forces Mercedes into early pit stop

After Sunday's race, Bottas admitted that Mercedes have some catching up to do before the Chinese Grand Prix (Apr. 7-9). "Just the red guys, they are a bit too quick. We need to work harder and we are definitely ready for that. I'm ready for that. This is a start, starting with the podium and if we improve on this I look forward to the next few races. As a team I think we did a good job with the car we had. Ferrari was quicker today, no doubt about that, so they did a better job this weekend," the Finn told reporters, via ESPN.

It's widely accepted that the new rules have made it nearly impossible to execute overtaking manoeuvres. The faster, wider cars, not to mention the physical toll experienced by the drivers, left Lewis Hamilton knowing that it was pointless trying to catch Vettel late in the race. "In the end I obviously had a lot more pace but even if I did close the gap I could not overtake. Having stopped so early, I may not have made it to the end of the race. I just didn't know how long the tyres would hang on so I took it easy," said the Briton, who eventually finished just 10 seconds shy of race-winner Vettel.

Hamitlon admitted that the 2017 championship race was wide open, welcoming a season long battle with Ferrari and Vettel. "It is a privilege to be racing in an era with (Vettel) and now finally we have a period of time where we can actually have a real race. It is going to be a hard slog this season and it is going to be physically and mentally demanding," said Hamilton, who with a tally of career 53 Grand Prix wins, is second in the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher (91 victories).