Why Mercedes could be more dominant

While it's often said in motor racing that you're only as good as your last race, such is the competitiveness of Formula 1 that what really matters is how good you're going to be at the next one.

That's why, before the first champagne corks had been popped to celebrate Lewis Hamilton's world championship success in Abu Dhabi, thoughts for most in the paddock were already on what needs to be done to stop Mercedes in its tracks in 2015.

But while the optimists of the paddock may be full of confidence that the winter will allow Mercedes' rivals to close down what is a pretty significant gap, there are other voices offering darker predictions about what we should expect.

The word on the street - whether through the paddock grapevine or via engineers who have switched camps and spilled the beans on what's really going on at Merc's power-unit HQ in Brixworth - is that the German make could be even further ahead next year than this.

Engineers suggest that Mercedes' energy recovery systems are not actually the best on the grid, so it knows it has plenty of room for improvement in that area during the window for developments this winter.

Furthermore, potentially bigger gains could come from its exhausts. The concept used by the German car manufacturer this year did not deliver maximum power and, because it has managed to make improvements elsewhere in terms of aerodynamic compromises and weight saving, it could unleash a better system in 2015 to lift its horsepower even more.

Mercedes itself admits that it won't be resting on its laurels after a dominant campaign, and its sights are set on a big leap forward in 2015.

Cowell (left) celebrates in Abu Dhabi © LAT

Engine chief Andy Cowell told me after Abu Dhabi: "The way the sporting regulations have been set up, throughout the year, you develop and at the start of the next year you introduce a big upgrade. It's a big list of development opportunities.

"I'm sure Renault and Ferrari will be working as hard as we have. And so we have to make as big a step as we can."

The talk of Mercedes pushing hard will only add to the concern that some of its rivals have already. If you speak in private to rival team members, there are fears that the German behemoth could be unleashing as much as 70bhp more than it has at the moment.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner refused to expand on how big a leap he expected his engine supplier Renault to make in comparison to Mercedes, but was aware that the possibility was there for things to be even worse for his team next year than they have been in 2014.

"I think if you believe the numbers that are floating around, the gap could actually grow rather than diminish," he says. "It would be rather depressing if that were the case."

Mercedes' opposition also has to balance the fact that each push to go to the limit on power in 2015 could mean more reliability risks ahead of a season where drivers are limited to just four power units for the campaign.

Such worries of F1's engine battle spreading out rather than getting closer certainly explain why there is such a concerted push by Mercedes' rivals to overhaul the power-unit regulations - whether through the relaxing of the development freeze or switching to different engines entirely in 2016.

But for Cowell, the claims from rivals that Mercedes could be even further ahead next season are nothing to get excited about.

Sipping a beer on Sunday night, as all around him Mercedes staff celebrated the end of a brilliant campaign, he was unmoved by chatter from the opposition.

"They're also suggesting a step back to V8s, so be careful what you listen to," he smiled.

For Mercedes' increasingly nervous rivals, there are just more than 100 sleepless nights until race day in Melbourne to find out who is right.