F1 underdogs have the world on their side

In Bahrain I couldn't help but be drawn towards the Ferrari garage each time I walked along pitlane.

There's an eminent glow from it - which I've seen in the past, but that's been missing for a while now. That garage is beginning to radiate again and not just because every single thing inside's painted in that garish red scheme!

I've been through periods in my own Formula 1 career when we've struggled as a team and spells when we've been hugely successful. The feelings that result from those two paradoxical situations may seem naturally obvious, but it's not always as clear-cut as you might think.

Think back to the Michael Schumacher years at Ferrari, a period of utter domination. While Ferrari fans were clearly very happy, many others around the sport were growing ever more frustrated and disgruntled.

Similarly, in more recent times with Red Bull, four years of the same team and driver taking both world championships did not go down well in the wider world.

The world seems to have tired of Mercedes victories © LAT

Neither of those teams or the individuals within them did anything other than a spectacular job. They built the right infrastructures, attracted the right people, knuckled down and worked hard until the results began to pay off - exactly what they'd set out to do.

My point to all this obvious recollection is that occasionally, when the 'world' begins to turn on you because of your success, it can dampen the celebrations to some extent.

Of course the team rejoices in the win, bonuses are collected and there are high-fives all round, but it doesn't go unnoticed that the respect and admiration from those outside the team's garage can begin to wane in the face of ever-more predictable results.

There's generally very little the team in front can do about improving the 'show', but for those in the chasing pack, like Ferrari and Williams have been over the past 12 months, it's all to play for.

When you find yourself in that position as a team, the swell of public and paddock support willing you on to catch up and make a race of it is tangible.

Over the winter just gone, anyone not in a Mercedes shirt was wishing for a closer fight. Largely it didn't matter to them who it was that stepped up, but someone had to take it to the Silver Arrows and over the past few rounds, Ferrari has managed to do just that.

The glow from within the team isn't just because it knows it's a lot closer this year and is genuinely challenging for podiums and race wins on a regular basis, but in part because its resurgence has rejuvenated the paddock.

Raikkonen nearly upstaged Hamilton in Bahrain © LAT

Sebastian Vettel's win in Malaysia and Kimi Raikkonen's impressive drive to second in Bahrain were far more popular results than any of Lewis Hamilton's three wins from four races and that has an effect on the team.

To put that into perspective at either end of the scale, imagine how incredible a feeling it is, as a mechanic or engineer, to have the whole world celebrating with you when your driver's just won a race as the underdog.

Colleagues, rivals and fans alike make the effort to come to your garage and show respect and give congratulations.

Everyone's happy for you and it creates an exciting environment and a buzz around the entire sport.

Even when the TV cameras have left the garage on Sunday evening, the written press continues to pore over the details and celebrate the 'incredible achievements' of the team right up until the next event, where they all arrive again and gravitate towards your garage once more, looking to uncover more reasons for your success. It feels good.

On the other side of the coin, imagine being the mechanic or engineer whose car was expected to win again.

You're the guy who had won every race for some time, had numerous pictures of yourself with the winner's trophies and champagne. The guy whose car had been so dominant it was beginning to turn Formula 1 fans away from the sport.

Vettel had his spell as an unpopular dominator and is now an underdog © XPB

When you're that guy and the underdog takes an unlikely victory, the feeling's very different. Not because you didn't win, good racers can celebrate both victors and runners-up in the right circumstances, but because the world has been waiting for you to fail for some time and it just got its wish.

It doesn't feel like a battle between Team A and Team B and their respective fans, it feels like a battle between Team A and the rest of the world, one that your Team A just lost and now the rest of the world are Team B fans.

Knowing that a large percentage of the F1 population will jump for joy if you fail to succeed in your job is not a pleasant situation - imagine it in your own workplace.

All you can do is pull together with your team and take the resurgent Team B as a challenge you need to overcome.

Mercedes still has a real fight on its hands. It has an advantage as things stand, but crucially for the sport it's no longer a given that it just needs to turn up to win the race.

I'm sure to an extent the guys inside that garage will cherish the battle. Having been in both winning and losing situations by some very fine margins myself, I know that the closer the finish, the higher the emotions are stirred come the final day.

At Ferrari, that glow I spoke about in Bahrain is a sign of a team that is not only clawing its way back to success, but thoroughly enjoying the popularity it's creating.

Its new, refreshingly-open leader, Maurizio Arrivabene, is changing the face of the team and it's going down well.

I've heard many people talk of the Scuderia as one of the most complex and political teams in the sport, but right now it's on the campaign trail and the opinion polls are booming in its favour.