Former Ferrari and McLaren driver Gerhard Berger and ousted F1 driver Roberto Merhi are yet more pundits who believe Mercedes will once again rule the roost in the 2016 Formula a world championship.
"Well, it looks as though not much in the balance of power has really changed," he told Tiroler Tageszeitung. "Ferrari is likely to be a little closer, winning a race here and there, but on the whole I feel that Mercedes has always left something in the drawer."
"We must also hope that Nico Rosberg can carry on his form from the end of last season," Berger added.
Where 2016 could be closely contested, the 56-year-old Austrian argued, is the midfield, with Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Williams and Force India all close together, "But it is exactly this closeness that we need at the top, in the fight for the world championship."
Meanwhile, when asked to comment on the start of the 2016 season, Merhi admitted he is not expecting the pecking order to have changed much over the winter, "Realistically, I think F1 is the same as in the last two years, with Mercedes strongest."
Merhi said Ferrari is next-best, although he questioned the retention of Kimi Raikkonen as Sebastian Vettel's teammate.
"I don't know what to tell you," said Merhi, referring to Raikkonen. "Today he is no longer the best driver."
A leading F1 correspondent, however, does not quite agree, even though most are assuming Raikkonen will struggle to keep his Ferrari seat for a fourth consecutive season in 2017.
"I admit that after the winter tests I changed my position a little," Michael Schmidt, a leading German journalist, wrote in a column for Turun Sanomat.
"The tests showed that Kimi seems to really like this new Ferrari. In Mercedes' analysis of the test, Raikkonen had not only the fastest individual laptimes, but he was also the best in the long runs," he added.
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