The teams will soon be testing ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 season and all eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton as the campaign progresses and whether he can go back-to-back and claim a fifth title.

Last year's title race looked to be boiling up nicely until Sebastian Vettel imploded and Hamilton destroyed his opponents in the second half of the season to win yet another drivers' crown.

Despite his achievements, the British flyer's hunger for success shows no signs of abating and it would seem folly to suggest that he will not be a major player over the 21 Grands Prix.

Nine race wins was enough for glory but Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will have been buoyed by his triumph in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Finn will hope to build on his three 2017 race wins.

Mercedes will be challenging for honours once again, with Ferrari and Red Bull as their challengers but Hamilton actually feels that it may well be a four-horse race and has tipped McLaren to rise from their slumber to be big players in 2018.

A switch from Honda to Renault engines is behind his optimism and McLaren certainly have the drivers to make a splash in two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso and youngster Stoffel Vandoorne.

They may have been virtually anonymous last year but with more power at their disposal, look for the duo to boss their way towards the front of the grid.

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Hamilton may have tipped McLaren to challenge but it would seem likely that four-time champion Vettel will be the man he has to deal with.

The German appeared to have the Brit's number early on but lost his cool when things started to go against him and he paid the price.

Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen ended up in fourth last year and that may well be the limit of his ambitions this time around as well as he failed to mount a serious challenge to the leading lights.

Red Bull were down in third in the constructors' championship, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth and Max Verstappen a place behind.

The duo were competitive, however, with Australia's Ricciardo winning in Azerbaijan and his young Dutch partner taking the checkered flag in both Malaysia and Mexico.

Whether they can sustain it throughout an entire season is open to debate but the pair will be there or there abouts and may well ruffle a few feathers.

The rest of the teams will be vying for the minor placings as always but the upcoming season may well be the closest for some time both for the constructors and drivers.

Hamilton has proved himself a worthy winner on four occasions and will have number five firmly in his sights but, if Vettel can keep his cool and build on a positive end to last year, it may well go right down to the wire.