Michael Schumacher is heading for the best start to a season of his remarkable Formula One career after scorching to a third win in three races in Bahrain yesterday.
Ferrari were dominant in the desert, finishing the Middle East's first grand prix one-two just as in the opening Australian round.
They could well repeat the feat on April 25th when Imola, the champions' home circuit named after team founder Enzo and his son Dino, hosts the first race of the year in Europe.
Six times world champion Schumacher has won the San Marino Grand Prix for the past two seasons and four times in the past five years.
After Imola comes the Spanish Grand Prix, a race that the German has won for the last three years. By the time he gets to Monaco in May, a race where qualifying is crucial, he could easily have stretched his record tally of career wins to 75.
If he triumphs at Imola, Schumacher will have equalled his best ever start of four wins in a row at the beginning of the 1994 season.
Ferrari's rivals are either in disarray or still putting together the building blocks for a genuine championship challenge.
"In race trim, Ferrari apparently are still in a class of their own," acknowledged Mario Theissen, motorsport director of Williams' engine partners BMW.
The first three races have been unusually cool, with brief showers and overcast skies in Bahrain, favouring Ferrari's Bridgestone tyres over rivals' Michelins.
While Williams and McLaren search for solutions, BAR and Renault are providing the main race day resistance.
Renault's Fernando Alonso was third in Australia, and has scored points in every race from the most unpromising of positions, while Briton Jenson Button has been on the podium for BAR in the last two races.