Is a Ferrari weakness the key to its strength?

Just as was the case in Australia, the Chinese Grand Prix showed the battle between Mercedes and Ferrari is a very close one. A small strategy mistake, or something not quite going your way such as the timing of the safety car, can and has dramatically affected the outcome.

It's great to see two teams just one point apart in the constructors' championship and two drivers equal in the drivers' standings. It's still early days, but this could be the way it goes on. I just wish there were a few more in the mix, but I don't think we're going to see that any time soon so let's enjoy what we have.

China confirmed that Mercedes does seem to have that little edge in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel's surprised reaction when he was told over the radio how much quicker Lewis Hamilton was confirmed that. It could be that Mercedes has a little bit extra from its power unit for that one flying lap, or it could be that the Ferrari has that little bit too much understeer on new tyres. It's probably a combination of both.

The reason I mentioned the Ferrari understeer is that Kimi Raikkonen was complaining about that being a problem when he really had to get that last bit from the car in qualifying. So if it is there, Vettel might just have a driving style that covers it.

But when it's inherent in the car, your driving style doesn't eliminate the problem, it just means you don't notice it quite so much even though you can still suffer the lap time deficit.

This could also be the reason Ferrari is that little bit easier on tyres over long runs than the Mercedes. A little understeer protects the rear tyres, so if I was in that situation I would be hanging on in there with that problem until I got to May's Spanish Grand Prix, where I am sure most teams will be bringing a decent upgrade.

These first few races are all about maximising the points haul. As we saw in China, the last thing you want to be doing is trying to get your head round new developments when you have most of Friday practice cancelled.

Both Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas are struggling to keep up with their team-mates. You could say Bottas needs a little bit more time since his move to Mercedes, but Raikkonen should be up there with Vettel scoring major points and he really isn't.

When he doesn't have the car balance his driving style requires, he just doesn't seem able to adapt. And this is a long-standing problem for him. All of the great drivers were or are able to adapt to the car they have under them, and I'm afraid if he's to be a threat for the championship again he needs to be able to do that.

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has suggested the team needs to hold talks with Raikkonen to improve his performance. I'm afraid that would be a waste of time.

Raikkonen has many years' experience, so it's not as if you are trying to teach something to a new kid on the block. He has always had his own way of doing things and, as we have heard many times over the radio, his own way of communicating. Ferrari went through exactly the same problem before when it paid him off at the end of 2009 and he disappeared to go rallying, so the problems were known. But how do you fix it? I'm glad it's not my problem to solve.

Ferrari also needs to look at itself. After the early pitstops, it allowed Raikkonen to hold Vettel up for far too long - 12 laps. So when he finally got up to second place, Hamilton was just too far up the road. At the moment, Vettel is Ferrari's main man, so it needs to give him every chance. I'm sure he will have made that point loud and clear in the post-race debrief.

As for Hamilton, it's clear he is relishing battling against a driver in a different team. When it's that way, rather than fighting your team-mate as Hamilton has had to for the last three years, politics takes a back seat. Doubtless Vettel feels the same, and this bodes well for a great season. What Hamilton said after the race made that very clear.

"I honestly think it will stay the way it is," he said of the good relationship that seems to exist with Vettel. "Who knows, maybe we'll have times where we are racing hard together and, of course, there could be that scenario where one of us thinks something is unfair, or someone has been too aggressive, whatever it may be.

"But we're grown men, we've come a long way, we've experienced a lot. The respect for one another is the highest that I have felt from another driver, especially of his calibre. Amazing sportsmanship, when you win you enjoy it, and you also acknowledge the person next door, and even when you lose it's the same thing.

"We're both doing that, and that's a great place to be. Naturally he wants to kill me out there and beat me, and vice versa, but then outside the car there's the admiration for the other's achievements and the way that they drive.

"He's performing at his best, he is rapid out there, so when I'm able to get ahead, it only compliments you, and vice versa."

Hamilton is clearly enjoying life more than during his fights with Nico Rosberg. The fact he's taking every chance to talk up the respect for Vettel says a lot about how he saw the past three years of intra-team fighting.

Behind the top two, Red Bull still needs that bit more lap time before it can really be in the mix at the front. But what the Chinese GP again showed is that Max Verstappen is taking no prisoners on his way to achieving his goals.

He made mincemeat of many of his rivals, including team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, on his way from 16th on the grid to finishing third. That drive included climbing to seventh on the first lap, and it gives another tick to the idea of reverse grids being taken seriously as an idea.

Verstappen will probably class this as one of his most enjoyable drives. Sure, it would be different if he was starting with all the fast cars and drivers together at the back with the slower ones at the front, but as I have said many times you learn something every weekend. That is true of the promoters as much as it is of the teams and drivers.

Behind these three teams, it's a bit of a lottery based on who gets it right on the day. The big three are well clear and, whether we like it or not, there is a clear 'B' championship. So now is the time for Toro Rosso, Force India, Williams, Haas and Renault to focus on who their competition really is.

One team missing from that group is McLaren, but China showed us that Fernando Alonso has lost none of his hunger. If McLaren-Honda can just give him a package that anywhere near matches that talent, then it could leapfrog that midfield. But I just don't see that happening soon.

Alonso is clearly doing what he can to make sure he doesn't get forgotten as the season goes on, especially given he is potentially on the market for 2018.

While we saw a little more of the shape of things in China, I'm hoping that in Bahrain this weekend the fog will lift further and we will get a more clear picture. But it's definitely a two-team championship, and in reality a two-driver championship.

Perhaps that's a good thing, because it will ensure new owner Liberty Media won't be misled by a rogue very competitive season and dilute its efforts to lift F1 to the overall level of competition that we all want.

But to have two drivers from different teams fighting for the title is a step up from the past few years, so it still means we've got a good chance of this close world championship fight being the story for the whole season.

In Australia and China, strategic mishaps have decided the race between Hamilton and Vettel. In Bahrain, perhaps we'll see how they stack up on pace when it matters. Because from what we've seen so far, it's close. On Sundays, at least.