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F1 cars have shown initial pace after we saw the cars set the first laps in the new era of Formula 1, which will see the teams produce cars which will reportedly go up to five seconds faster.
"Lewis (Hamilton) is already quicker than qualifying last year," said Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo as the first of just two four-day Barcelona tests began.
While the times will tumble as testing progresses, there is still concern that the added downforce to the cars will make it very difficult for them to follow each other, therefore taking away shine from the 'show'.
"The tyres are very hard and very consistent," said Mercedes' Hamilton. "I was behind a few other cars and it was not easy to pass them."
But Fernando Alonso said: "These are real racing cars again. We need to apologise to the fans for what we gave them over the past six years."
Despite all the drop in lap time predictions, Ricciardo is not sure that there will be five second differences from 2016: "I don't know but I think that's pretty optimistic," he said.
Force India's Sergio Perez agreed: "I was expecting more grip. I would say the improvement in laptimes will be three or four seconds."
Despite such a big regulation change in the chassis and tyres, Formula 1's V6 hybrid power units will remain until 2020: "We need to live with these engines until at least 2020," said Red Bull designer Adrian Newey.
Fergal Walsh
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Come on Melbourne, hurry up!