Just because they are the best, winners, would we want to penalise Roger Federer and have him contest Wimbledon with a table tennis bat, or have Rory McIlroy play 18 holes with just his putter or have Usain Bolt sprint for Olympic gold in a pair of brogues?

Of course not. Then why should Mercedes, Formula One’s impressive front runners, be so handicapped in order to give their chasers a chance in the grand prix run for glory?

But that’s the call from the likes of Red Bull boss Christian Horner, supported surprisingly by F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, as champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg threaten to repeat last season’s game of 200mph monopoly.

I don’t recall a self-satisfied Horner, now leading the moaners, conceding the advantage when his dominant outfit, with driver Sebastian Vettel breaking all the records, romped to four successive championships, humbling hapless rivals as also-rans.

My, how times have changed! Ironically Horner, in turncoat mode, wants to rein in Mercedes and has pleaded with the FIA, the sport’s rulers, to help the no-hopers who have failed to come up with the goods to match the runaway Silver Arrows by imposing limits on the engine.

His argument, quite laughably, is that the Mercedes showcase car and its star driver Hamilton could wreck the racing as a spectacle and put the fans to flight. Again, I can’t remember him echoing that fear when Red Bull were romping to their four championships.

Ecclestone, I suspect, fretful that the crowds may dwindle, says: “We should have frozen the Mercedes engine and left everybody else to do what they want so they could have caught up. The FIA should make changes.”

I disagree with my old friend. All the rival teams knew what to expect after last year’s title takeover by Mercedes, so whose fault is it that in the close season they have failed to improve? They have only themselves to blame.

Across the years there have been similar levels of dominance, as far back as Juan Manuel Fangio with his five world titles in seven years, through McLaren’s wipeout with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna grabbing 15 of the 16 races, on to Michael Schumacher and Ferrari’s five straight titles, and then Vettel’s ruling authority.

And to my recollection none of those spells set Formula One back on its heels and neither will the current situation because up front the competition between Hamilton, after Melbourne 34 times a winner, and Rosberg, runner-up last season and not the firmest of friends, promises to be a fiercely fought campaign with no backing down from either driver.

If the racing behind them in pursuit of third place on the podium is close, and I suspect it will be, the spectators will still get value for their entrance money.

In an aside to Vettel, third placed after the Australian Grand Prix, Hamilton pointed out quite rightly to the German ace: “You did this for four years. You were 30 seconds ahead. So I know how it must have felt back then.”

And the 30-year-old took a pop at the ex-champ with: “Seb had no one pushing him, but I am really racing my teammate. I don’t ever remember that being the case with Red Bull. If I was 30 seconds ahead on my own every race, fair enough. We have a great car, but I am the one who has to get in and extract the best from it.”

Hamilton is right. His genius, allied to that of the painstaking efforts of 1,000 workers and the billion-pound investment of Mercedes in the development of their £2m car, is a winning combination.

It is up to the other mega-moneyed teams to catch-up. And fast.

— The writer is a freelance journalist and motorsport expert