Sebastian Vettel has been on the number spot in Formula One since winning its championship in 2010. So, the F1 community has been rooting for a serious contender who could break Vettel’s championship streak for quite some time.

Now, with Mercedes performing well in the current tests—not to mention the team’s impressive performance during the 2013 season—fans are expecting either Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to unseat Vettel from the top of the rankings this season.

The expectations of hardcore F1 fans were further fueled when Rosberg was able to set the fastest lap in his Mercedes during the Bahrain testing last Saturday.

During that said event, Rosberg was able to set the record for the fastest lap in the test at one-minute and 33.283 seconds. The number set by the young German was 1.627 second ahead of everyone else and six seconds faster than Red Bull’s record.

Aside from the speed, Mercedes has shown reliability in its race car–a factor which has been troubling Red Bull lately. Last Saturday, Rosberg was able to complete 89 laps in his car.

Too Early to Call Mercedes as a “Favorite”

As Toto Wolff has stated in one of his interviews a couple of weeks ago, it is still too early to call Mercedes as a “favorite”. The result of the pre-season testing is not always a guarantee that the top performer during that time will also be on top of the rankings when the season finishes.

Rosberg or Hamilton

Pundits forecast that the more technical, consistent and analytical approach of Rosberg when driving will certainly come very useful this season, especially with the new developments in the technological aspect of the Mercedes F1 car. They say that his skillset has greater potential than Hamilton’s instinctive and faster style.

Personally, I am a fan of the two. They feature distinct skills and abilities that somehow complement each other and which make them very exciting to watch. So, it doesn’t really matter who between them comes up on top.