Sebastian Vettel’s win in Sepang proved that not only had Ferrari built their first good car for some years but that it may just be able to take the fight to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

It is still early days and that thesis could all change by the time the back-to-back races in China and Bahrain have come and gone but at least it has perked up the interest of the casual Formula One fan.

It is also the mark of every good sports man or collective team to prove they can cope with pressure, can soak it in and sometimes perform even better as a result.

Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Tiger Woods in his pomp. Ronnie O’Sullivan. Ferrari in the Michael Schumacher era.

All could turn up the wick if they felt the breath of a rival on their neck - but Mercedes struggled to cope with the Prancing Horse galloping past them on Sunday.

They split the strategies of their drivers for the first time in an age, pitted under the early safety car more out of tradition than tactical awareness. Meanwhile, both Hamilton and Rosberg were heard complaining over the team radio as they had to settle for the lowly positions of second and third on the podium.

Their radio messages were similar to those of Vettel last season – a four-time world champion unable to truly get to grips with a Red Bull car that had race-winning capabilities in the hands of his less-experienced team-mate.

But, after a podium in Australia and a first win in more than 16 months, the German has settled straight into life at Maranello and is showing all the signs of being back to his brilliant best.

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We keep getting told that McLaren’s pain could end in Spain – that is what the likes of Ron Dennis are saying on a loop.

And it is starting to look as though he may have a point. Although both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were forced to retire in Malaysia, they were faster and more competitive than they had been in Melbourne – although to be any slower and uncompetitive would have been some task.

Button announced his surprise when he realised he was actually catching other drivers and both cars were contesting with Force India and Sauber at some stages of the race.

But that progression must continue – we are told the chassis is great and once they have a better understanding of the new Honda power unit they will be clawing their way back up to a position a team like McLaren should be in.

It is all well and good catching the likes of Force India and Sauber, but these teams have much smaller budgets, less heritage and expectation.

McLaren need to get to Barcelona and really put themselves up in the area of the field where they can even surpass the Renault-powered Red Bulls and Toro Rosso, fighting with the likes of Williams for points.