Just three months after that controversial night in Abu Dhabi, F1 is back and seeking to make amends.

Whatever one's thoughts on the decision that allowed Max Verstappen to catch Lewis Hamilton on the hop and grab the title, it is time to move on, and what could be better than greeting an all-new F1.

This weekend sees the race debut of the biggest rules overhaul in living memory as the sport seeks to improve the racing and level the playing field.

The rules overhaul is the latest phase in the programme which last year saw the introduction of a budget cap which limits the teams to spending no more than $145m, thereby ending the 'spending war' that allowed the big teams to throw money at their development and updates and thereby leave their smaller rivals struggling in their wake.

While the budget cap was aimed at levelling the playing field financially, the 2022 rules have been introduced with the intention of allowing more teams to challenge for points, podiums and hopefully wins.

The likes of Mercedes and Red Bull are likely to still rule the roost, but the new rules, which are mainly focussed on aerodynamics, are intended to close the field and thereby increase the chances of an upset.

One of the sport's failing in recent years was the inability of a driver to close in on a rival, shadow him and bide his time before making a move. Dirty air created by the car ahead would cause the pursuer to overheat their tyres, lose grip and be forced to drop back.

The rules overhaul is intended to change all that.

Over the course of pre-season testing we saw a number of examples of drivers testing the new rules, and it appears they work, for the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have both said that it is now easier to follow other cars.

On the other hand, the new rules, which see a return to the ground effect of the early 80s, have witnessed the reappearance of porpoising... and we're not talking Flipper.

Porpoising was peculiar to ground effect cars when they previously raced in F1, and is the result of airflow separation causing the cars to bounce and rock. Having only run this new generation of car on simulators or in the windtunnel the effect hadn't come to light, but it is now clear that the teams have a problem on their hands.

While some, most notably Ferrari and Alpine, appear to have got on top of the phenomenon, others, including Mercedes haven't. To add to Mercedes woes, the car appears to be a bit of a handful, leaving drivers Hamilton and George Russell struggling for grip. Indeed, the seven-time world champion is already talking down his chances of race wins, far less the title.

That said, Hamilton and Mercedes were talking down their chances here twelve months ago and promptly went out and won the race.

Another change for this year is the 18-inch tyre range, and for this weekend the nominated compounds are one step harder than for last year's race as the new tyres are completely different in comparison to their 13-inch predecessors, also in terms of compounds.

According to Pirelli the choice has been made because of Sakhir's layout, asphalt characteristics and temperatures.

On the face of it, pre-season testing suggests that Red Bull and Ferrari head into the weekend as favourites, though it would be a brave man who would write off Mercedes.

McLaren had a troubled test, not helped by the fact that Daniel Ricciardo was sidelined by COVID, while Alpine and Alpha Tauri looked strong.

Also looking much improved were Alfa Romeo and Haas, where Kevin Magnussen makes a welcome return to the American team.

As we know from experience, the clock doesn't lie, so while there might be doubts about the pecking order heading into the weekend, we shall have a far clearer idea or who's hot and who's not come Qualifying on Saturday, while on Sunday we'll get a better idea of reliability and just how effective the rules overhaul has been.

Latest odds from Betway see Verstappen at 3.00, Hamilton 3.25, Leclerc 6.00, Sainz 8.50 and Russell 11.00.

Despite their 'issues', Mercedes is joint favourite with Red Bull at 2.62, with Ferrari at 4.00 and McLaren at 21.00.