Formula 1 in 2018: Which team is on top, who's underperforming, and who has work to do?

Ferrari

Championship position: 1st; Best Qualifying: Pole position (Bahrain); Best race result: 1st (Australia and Bahrain)

So far so very good for the Scuderia - successive victories represents their best start to a season since 2004. While their win in Australia owed plenty to good fortune, the SF71-H was the fastest car in Bahrain - although by a larger margin in qualifying than the race.

Sebastian Vettel's ability to eke out his tyres for 10 laps longer than forecast was a masterclass, but also suggested his car is far kinder on its rubber than the Mercedes. How important might that be through the rest of 2018?

Mercedes

Championship position: 2nd; Best Qualifying: Pole position (Australia); Best race result: 2nd (Australia and Bahrain)

Two races, two defeats and two 'if only' tales of frustration from the world champions. There's certainly no reason to panic, of course, and Mercedes can legitimately argue only luck and strategy - rather than pace or car consistency - has beaten them so far. But Bahrain, assuming that Melbourne is the outlier so far, also threw down compelling reasons to dispel warnings 2018 would be a Mercedes walkover:

Ferrari had a clear one-lap pace advantage in Friday practice, qualifying and on the supersofts in the race; the W09 appears to be relatively quicker on harder tyre compounds than softs; and the Mercedes isn't hot on heat or rear-limited circuits. Different year, same problem? The W09 appears to be as hard on its overheating rear tyres as any of its predecessors.

Mercedes are still the team to beat but the key learning from the opening two rounds of 2018 is that they can be beaten.

McLaren

Championship position: 3rd; Best Qualifying: 11th (Australia); Best race result: 5th (Australia)

Squaring McLaren's third place in the Constructors' Championship with the feeling they have under-performed is an early 2018 conundrum. But results have flattered McLaren, underlined by Eric Boullier branding their qualifying performance in Bahrain as "astonishing". Both Saturdays have been particularly tough for McLaren: the team are yet to reach Q3 this season or qualify within a second of a Red Bull team using the same Renault engines. "We need to raise our game because it's not enough at the moment," Fernando Alonso told Sky F1 in Bahrain.

The relief has been their Sunday form, however, with the MCL33 far stronger in race trim than in qualy mode. McLaren are still playing catch up, firstly from their late switch to Renault power and secondly after going too aggressive with their 2018 car design. The car they ought to have had in Australia will only arrive in either Baku or Barcelona. "We have a development curve which is very high and we have a lot coming in the next races," said Boullier.

The next step is critical. Can it be a big leap? "We know our weakness, we know where we have to improve the car," said Alonso. "The car we have here at the track and the car we are developing at the factory is different. That car is fixing all our weaknesses, so we need to bring that car as soon as possible."

Red Bull

Championship position: 4th; Best Qualifying: 4th (Australia); Best race result: 4th (Australia)

F1 2018 still hasn't seen the best of Red Bull. Mistakes by Max Verstappen, including two spins and a collision with Lewis Hamilton, and misfortune for Daniel Ricciardo - a somewhat harsh grid penalty in Australia and an early exit in race two - have robbed the spectacle of what still might be the fastest race car.

Qualifying may be a different matter, however. Deprived of Mercedes' happy hour 'party mode', a Red Bull is still to qualify within four tenths of pole or higher than fourth.

Renault

Championship position: 5th; Best Qualifying: 8th (Australia and Bahrain); Best race result: 6th (Bahrain)

While Renault's results so far have correlated with the team's pre-season objectives, the actual performance of the RS18 has disappointed. "We have a car that is far from perfect, we know that," Cyril Abiteboul told Sky F1 in Bahrain. "We know there is a lack of stability in certain phases of the corner in our car".

A big upgrade package will arrive in Baku followed by race-by-race increments from Barcelona onwards. And the power unit? "On the engine development has already started. With reliability proven in race one, we have a bit more power for the three teams."

Nico Hulkenberg has been vocal in his criticism of the car - "we are a bit behind expectations" - but so far has extracted more from the RS18 than his team-mate. After two rounds it's Hulkenberg 2, Sainz 0 in both qualy and races.

Toro Rosso

Championship position: 6th; Best Qualifying: 6th (Bahrain); Best race result: 4th (Bahrain)

A season-start of two halves for Toro Rosso-Honda. 16th and 20th on the grid in Melbourne was upgraded to fifth and 11th in Bahrain. The trigger appears to have been an extensive aero upgrade package and engine 'modifications' from Honda. The end result (including the best for Honda since their return to F1) was no fluke: Gasly featured in the top 10 of every session in the desert before landing fourth place on race day.

Awkward for McLaren and interesting - perhaps even tantalising - for Red Bull as they consider their future engine plans.

Haas

Championship position: 7th; Best Qualifying: 6th (Australia); Best race result: 5th (Bahrain)

The big movers at the start of the new F1 season. On pure pace, Haas have consistently been the fourth-fastest outfit - albeit still a second-per-lap behind the elite. But that leap forward has not yet been satisfactorily converted into results. On Sundays, Haas are effectively one out of four - two pit-stop malfunctions wrecked their good work in Australia while Romain Grosjean never got going in Bahrain. Kevin Magnussen's fifth place in Bahrain accounts for all of their points this year so far.

Armed with a car that certainly has an uncanny resemblance to last year's Ferrari and the smallest workforce in the sport, Haas need to make their flying start count before McLaren, Renault and even Toro Rosso-Honda start to make their firepower count in the annual 'development war'.

Sauber

Championship position: 8th; Best Qualifying: 17th (Australia and Bahrain); Best race result: 9th (Bahrain)

As a Sauber car has yet to avoid the Q1 trapdoor, the limitations of the C37 is plain. It also looks a difficult handful, as evidenced by the amount of time Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson have spent in the gravel.

But this is also merely year one of the team's alliance with Alfa Romeo and Ericsson's points-scoring finish in Bahrain amounted to real and tangible progress: Ericsson had last troubled the scorers 50 races ago.

Force India

Championship position: 9th; Best Qualifying: 9th (Bahrain); Best race result: 10th (Bahrain)

Esteban Ocon's appearance in Q3 at Bahrain was welcome relief for a team enduring a tough start to 2018. Force India, fourth in the Constructors' Championship in 2016 and 2017, are behind the curve on development and the front-wing trialled in Friday practice in Bahrain didn't make it through to the weekend.

Williams

Championship position: 10th; Best Qualifying: 14th (Australia); Best race result: 14th (Australia and Bahrain)

Ouch. 2018 has started in disastrous fashion for the Williams outfit - the only team yet to score a point this term - and with Lance Stroll slowest of all in qualifying at Bahrain and Sergey Sirotkin starting his first two F1 races in 18th and 19th.

"I see grave issues," mourned Sky F1's Martin Brundle. "I don't see a talisman or taliswoman who is really leading this team. I think there is enough talent and enough budget in this team, with that Mercedes engine, to be doing a lot better than they are. The car is just not working and they are massively underperforming."

Nor do they have any answers as to why. "We weren't quick enough today for a number of reasons, some of them we understand, some of them we don't," admitted technical chief Paddy Lowe. But before a disastrous start becomes a crisis, Williams need answers and solutions - and fast.

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