Mercedes are in for a tough weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix after Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen secured a front row lock-out ahead of Valtteri Bottas on Saturday.

The Silver Arrows will be pinning their hopes on the Finn to cause an upset by improving on his third-place finish at the Middle Eastern circuit last year.

That’s down to Lewis Hamilton being forced to ninth on the grid following a five-place penalty due to changing his gear box ahead of the final practice session.

Ferrari are in a strong position to follow up Vettel’s opening weekend victory in Australia and make a big statement in their bid to overthrow Mercedes’ recent dominance.

The German outfit haven’t enjoyed the best of starts to the 2018 campaign, and many of their opponents will be looking on with a sense of karma based on reports of a request made to Pirelli.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, via f1i.com, Mercedes consulted the Formula 1 tyre manufacturer during pre-season testing about making the rubber layer of its compounds 0.4mm thinner to avoid blistering at particular tracks.

These include recently resurfaced tracks such as Barcelona, Silverstone and Paul Ricard, where increased grip can lead to overheating.

PIRELLI'S CHANGES

Pirelli F1 boss Mario Isola has explained the modifications will address Mercedes’ concerns, but denied the decision should be seen as them bowing to the world champions.

"We would have done it anyway,” he said.

"With a lot of grip, the lap time is improving a lot. We saw the lap times during the pre-season test was three seconds quicker than last year.

"But the point is that we keep a lot of rubber on the tyre, because with low wear, the tread is there, we are not wearing the tyre. And this means we have high temperatures in the compound.

"We tested the solution already last year, and in terms of performance or other consequences, they are almost transparent."

Pirelli has cited the mid-season adjustment as necessary for safety reasons, meaning the FIA can – and has – passed it without the usual 70 per cent agreement required from all teams.

Understandably, some of Mercedes’ opponents aren’t overly pleased with the outcome.

"We have no problems with blisters," a McLaren source said, while Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo claimed: "Our car is gentler on the tyres than the Mercedes.”

Summing up the entire controversy, an unnamed team boss added: "Why should we change the tyres if Mercedes has a problem?”

It’s certainly a debate F1 conspiracy theorists must be licking their lips over.