Ferrari, so long without winning a Formula One title, made their intent to end the drought absolutely clear after they took the fight to Mercedes at the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel securing the win and the lead of the world championship. The manner of his victory was emphatic – after three years of Mercedes dominance now the teams are evenly matched, the Scuderia has gone aggressive and it is paying off. Mercedes have not had to deal with pressure or a close fight and Ferrari are applying both. There is going to be a battle this season, and, it appears, not one for the faint-hearted.

In the front lines two drivers are at the centre of the struggle. With Vettel’s win, beating Lewis Hamilton into second and a seven‑point deficit in the world championship, it looks increasingly as if both teams will soon have put their full weight behind the men that are going to be decisive. Ferrari have not won a drivers’ championship since Kimi Raikkonen secured the 2007 title and have not taken the constructors’ since 2008.

They have wanted it badly and the nature of Vettel’s win at the Sakhir circuit suggests that if they fail it will not be for want of trying and Mercedes know it. The team’s executive director, Toto Wolff, said after the win in China: “Our mindset is that of the underdog – not the champion. And the fight has just begun.” He was playing down their chances but in the latter he was spot on, and, having not had to scrap for three years, they need to adapt fast.

The Ferrari team principal, Maurizio Arrivabene, acknowledged what the victory at the Sakhir circuit had taken. “What is good is that the team demonstrated braveness, determination and a bit of craziness,” he said. “These three qualities have been in the DNA of Ferrari for 70 years.” He was joined with a bullish statement from the Ferrari president, Sergio Marchionne. “We are now completely confident that our victory in Melbourne wasn’t just a one-off,” he said. “And that we will be at the forefront of this world championship until the last.”

Hamilton’s race was compromised in what was an error to which he admitted when he was given a five-second penalty for backing up Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo on the entry to the pit lane – his team-mate was stopping first, stacking the drivers and Hamilton was attempting to minimise the delay he would consequently suffer.

“Obviously it was a very difficult race,” he said. “The pit lane was my fault, apologies to the team for losing the time there. I’m deflated, Ferrari did a very good job. I don’t feel I executed the way I could.”

His team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, who had started from pole, the first of his career, lacked pace throughout. Mercedes had been unable to bleed off tyre pressure on the grid and he was suffering from oversteer. Wolff referred to “mistakes we could have avoided” after the race but in truth Ferrari had already put them under the hammer, forcing Mercedes to play catch-up.

“Today reminded us once again that we are in a very different competitive situation this year, racing against Ferrari,” Wolff said. “We need to get everything right in order to deliver.”

Vettel had started in third on the grid and passed Hamilton, who suffered some wheelspin at the off, splitting the two Mercedes. The front three were evenly matched in pace, Ferrari again showing their deficit in qualifying is more than made up for on a Sunday.

Even enough, though, such that passing one another on similar rubber looked unlikely and Ferrari pulled Vettel in early on lap 11. He immediately banged in some quick laps on the new rubber and despite the appearance of the safety car two laps later, during which both Hamilton and Bottas pitted – the stop leading to the British drivers’ penalty – it was enough to ensure when racing was rejoined Vettel had the lead. The team have made several poor shouts on strategy in the past few years but having made a similarly sharp call in Australia to win the first race of the season, they had taken the race to Mercedes and put their man in front.

The Scuderia’s cars look to work their tyres better but Mercedes appear to have an advantage in raw pace – on a track that rewards horsepower and traction they should have the upper hand but the margins now are so narrow that a good pit call can make the difference and so it proved.

As the second half of the race shook down the leaders all stopped again to take their final set of tyres with Hamilton coming in later than both his team-mate and Vettel. Quicker than Bottas, the team moved the former over for Hamilton who set about pursuing Vettel. The German, having enjoyed track position at the front, had a lead of 19sec, although the British driver had tyres that were now eight laps fresher. Hamilton set off in hot pursuit but the damage had already been done, the gap was too large and there were too few laps remaining. Vettel took the flag with a 6.6sec lead. It had been tight, tense and tactical but Ferrari knew they had done enough. “Lewis was very quick with fresher tyres but we had enough to respond,” Vettel said. “We just needed to stay sharp and make sure we did not relax. We had a bit of a cushion and controlled the race at the end.”

His team lead Mercedes by three points in the constructors’ championship and if they are to come out on top in what looks like an equally tight, tense and tactical season, they will have to show the same sharpness again and again in a battle that has now well and truly been joined.