Bangkok: The numbers, at least, indicate that this is the most competitive Formula One season in decades. Felipe Massa of Ferrari, with 39 points, leads a crowd atop the overall standings, with six drivers within nine points of his total. It is also the first time in 20 years that different teams have won the three opening races.
But these statistics disguise the dominance of Red Bull, which was barely challenged in running away to a 1-2 finish in Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel leading teammate Mark Webber across the finish line.
Had it not been for mechanical failures that struck Vettel while he was leading midway through the races in Bahrain and Australia, the German would have won all three opening races and the season would be anything but competitive.
And only a very wet qualifying session on Saturday in Malaysia prevented Red Bull from having consecutive front row monopolies.
The F1 circuit next stops in Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix, and Red Bull will go there with memories of last year's 1-2 finish. A repeat this year on April 18, and few would bet against it given the Austrian team's current form, would have rival teams scrambling to keep up.
China will be the last of four "flyaway" races before the European section of the season begins, when almost all teams usually produce a significant technical upgrade.
Last season Brawn GP, now reincarnated as Mercedes, was dominant in the opening races thanks to its contentious double-diffuser design, but other teams were able to make their own versions for Europe, and Brawn's advantage was significantly reduced.
Red Bull's rivals will be hoping for the same scenario in 2010. This year, there are three pioneering aerodynamic devices that will be copied, and the approaching Chinese GP will likely be the last race before most of the field adopts the upgrades and cuts into Red Bull's advantage.
The first, and most contentious, innovation has not even been proven to exist. Nonetheless, Red Bull's rumored ride-height adjustment has been a hot topic of discussion among teams.
The team denies it, but others have said there is a device on the Red Bull cars that enables them to ride low and close to the track in the low-fuel qualifying sessions and then be raised marginally during races to compensate for the extra weight of a full load of fuel.
Manually adjusting height between qualifying and the race is banned by regulations, but there is talk of compressed gas or another such mechanism that allows Red Bull to make a change while staying within the letter of the law.
There has been no formal complaint from other teams, with the likes of McLaren and Ferrari keener to develop their own version after China, rather than having the technology banned.
Another device, which clearly does exist, is McLaren's F-duct system in which the driver can make an adjustment in the cockpit to alter air flow and stall the rear wing, delivering greater speed on straights. It would have been of more benefit in Malaysia had the team not botched qualifying, but China also has a very long main straight on which the McLarens should thrive. Ferrari is working on its own version, and other teams probably are as well.
The coming Shanghai race will also be the last in which mirrors are fitted to the sidepods of cars. While aiding aerodynamics, the mirrors vibrate too much, and drivers' complaints about poor rear vision means they will be moved back in adjacent to the cockpit from Spain onward.
Whether post-China changes will level the teams' performance remains to be seen, but for the time being there is a close championship, if only because of Red Bull's earlier reliability issues.
Ferrari leads both the drivers' and constructors' championship, but that has been due more to consistency than brilliance. Massa leads the title race despite not having had a good shot at winning any of the opening three races.
And the Italian team has a significant problem with its engines. Fernando Alonso's power plant failed on the penultimate lap in Malaysia, while the Ferrari engines being used by the two Saubers also died.
With Alonso and Massa both having used three engines going into the fourth race of the 19 this season, and eight engines being the limit before penalties kick in, Ferrari urgently needs to make its motors more reliable.
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