The 2018 Formula One season gets underway on Sunday in Melbourne as Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes prepare to defend their championships.

Mercedes have won the constructors' championship for the past four years as two of their drivers split the drivers' crown.

Nico Rosberg's victory in 2016 after two years of Hamilton wins saw the German retire from the sport, leaving his former teammate to regain the title last year.

The dominance of Mercedes has led to fears over the future of the sport as other teams struggle to match the UK-based team.

A perceived lack of excitement drawn from an expectation of Hamilton retaining his title has led to worries that fans may begin to turn away from F1 if things don't change soon.

Hamilton himself, however, has denied this over the course of the off-season, regularly trying to settle any fears down.

Now the four-time world champion has gone further, believing that his team's dominance has been overplayed, despite his comfortable victory, and that last year showed exactly how competitive the 2018 season will be.

"Every year we [Mercedes] have to take it to another level," Hamilton said in the buildup to the Melbourne GP. "If you look at last year, for example, Red Bull was a second or so behind at the first race and at the last race they were right there with us.

"Their rate of development was a little bit steeper than everyone else's."

Hamilton is fully aware of the expectations that people have of another Mercedes victory but is quick to dispel it, feeling that it's merely been a way for rivals to avoid pressure by heaping it onto the champions.

"I think at this point in the year, everyone is trying to hype someone up and we are the perfect target because we are the world champions," he said.

"It's almost like put all the pressure onto them because it takes the weight off of us.

"But ultimately I think the pressure is divided among all of us."

And for Hamilton, his main rivals are clear.

"Red Bull seem to have done a great job on their car, it's got a lot more furniture on it, should be a lot quicker this weekend and they've got two great drivers.

"Then you have Ferrari who were there in the real fight last year, it was no walkover that's for sure, and this year we expect them to be on it too."

Only a few more days to go before all the speculation surrounding the season can finally start being answered.