Opinion | Pit Stop: Plenty of new story lines - and some old - as F1 teams gather in Melbourne to start another season of thrills and drama

In the trees around the English countryside, birds are busy making their nests in the bare branches before spring arrives. But in the factories of Formula One teams nearby, they are a little ahead of their feathered friends.

A busy winter is over and their cars have already been airfreighted to Australia, ready for the first grand prix in Melbourne this weekend. There may not be the same wholesale changes to the cars that we experienced in 2014, but nevertheless the sport has managed to whip itself, and its loyal fans, into a frenzy.

The most important issue is who is going to set the pace in Australia. Preseason testing would suggest Mercedes are going to continue where they left off last season - in dominant form.

There is good news for fans of Ferrari, who seem to be in a much better place than 12 months ago. Given the horrible season the "prancing horse" had in 2014, that might not be saying much, but after the management shakeup past season, things are starting to look promising on the track.

They will be looking to give Williams a run for their money. Sir Frank's outfit was fast last season, and will be looking to carry on exploiting the advantage of a Mercedes engine. Red Bull on the other hand still have to contend with the less than satisfactory Renault engine which is still playing catch up.

Lotus might well be a surprise package with its Mercedes engine, but Force India could struggle. Cashflow problems meant they only turned up for a few days of preseason testing.

McLaren were there for all of the testing sessions, but it turned out to be a disaster. They completed only a fraction of the laps the other teams did due to mechanical problems, and the long heralded return of Honda to partner the team has not been the smoothest.