As was the case in the early 2000s, when Ferrari and Michael Schumacher were totally dominant, it is up to rivals to raise their game rather than attempt to handicap success.

Yesterday saw Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas claim a record fifth consecutive 1-2, the 44th since the hybrid formula was introduced in 2014 and the 79th win of the 105 races held in that time.

As the title fight increasingly looks to be a two horse race - and neither of them prancing - Lewis Hamilton admits that the lack of serious competition from rival teams is disappointing, but Mercedes must not be blamed for its success.

Staying focused is pretty easy," he said. "It is not as much fun as when you are competing against another team. That is what F1 is about.

Asked if it is a relief not to have Ferrari hard on its heels, the Briton said: "When you arrive and you are competing against other teams who are bringing their A-game and you have another two drivers, and that puts a spanner in the mix.

"When that is not there it is definitely a lot less exciting from a competition point of view, racing within a team... it is not how F1 should be, but it is what it is right now and it has been like that in the past, but it is not our fault these guys (Mercedes) are good at their jobs."

Asked if his team could win all 21 races, he admitted: "Who knows? We definitely did not expect to come in to the season winning the first five races, which is incredibly encouraging for everyone.

"Everyone is still pushing incredibly hard, which is still so great to see. It really is a phenomenal group of people. In the engineers' room, nobody is over confident. We were just discussing improvements we could make and talking about how we could improve the car. They don't mind constructive criticism. They don't take it personally. I think this is the strongest team there is and has ever been and it would be hard to break that."

"We pushed the benchmark and we push the needle and we try to be better as a group every single day and every single year," added team boss Toto Wolff. "This team coming together with the struggles that we had in the winter is just a super satisfaction for the team and the group and this is what my personal feeling is.

"On the other side if I take myself out from my Mercedes standpoint and all of the group, of course as a fan you want variability and unpredictability," he admitted. "We all enjoyed Liverpool coming back as strong as they did and Spurs making it against all odds. I had the laptop on my knees watching the game when we saw Liverpool beating Barcelona.

"As a fan and as a spectator, I can relate to the sport needing to have a certain variability," he added. "But where we are, it can't be an objective for us. I also feel that it's bad karma if we were to really think that we are walking on water, then next weekend you're going to get one in the face for sure."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Barcelona, here.