Jenson Button completed a steady 35 laps in the McLaren this morning. They had a shocker in testing last year, setting the tone for the season. 

In total, they managed just 380 laps over the 12 days of testing in 2015, averaging 32 laps a day.

Image source, Toro Rosso

Want to know what an F1 driver's lunch looks like? Tiny, is the answer. Surely that's a snack?

The clock strikes one (well, two in Spain) and the afternoon session is go.

No-one's in a rush to get back out there. Tapas still being polished off.

Image source, get

“Lewis Hamilton was in a positive frame of mind after his first morning in the new Mercedes - as well he might after completing 66 largely trouble-free laps. 

"’It is a great start to the first day of testing,’ the world champion said. ‘The guys have done a great job to get it too perform as well as it has with the least amount of problems.’ 

"As for the feel of the car, Hamilton said it ‘feels like last year’s car - it doesn’t feel bad, that’s for sure.’ 

"Hamilton was half a second down on Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari but said Mercedes were ‘just focusing on our job. It feels good and we have done lots of laps so far.”

And just imagine what Vettel could do without a fence attached to his car...

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

“Bernie Ecclestone has always been a believer in the adage ‘all publicity is good publicity’. And he has come out with some typically controversial remarks to welcome the sport he runs back into action. He has told the Daily Mail, external that F1 is ‘the worst it’s ever been’. 

"In a wide-ranging interview, he says FIA president Jean Todt should end his involvement in F1, makes a thinly veiled threat against Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff - who is clearly the target of this comment: ‘I've had to take people out and show them a few graves; there’s still room there’ - praises Vladimir Putin again, and suggests reversing the top 10 in qualifying on the grid. 

"For Ecclestone, it’s all about control - he wants to wrest some of it back from the teams. Will he get his way on some of his wishes? We’ll have to wait and see.”

Formula 1 came in for criticism last year, with many accusing it of being too boring. 

Still, at least the sport's boss Bernie Ecclestone thinks it is in good shape. Oh wait...

F1 journalist Dan Knutson in Barcelona: "The Spanish Grand Prix on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is 66 laps – so with his 66 laps in the morning session Lewis Hamilton has already completed a grand prix distance in the new Mercedes W07."

Pascal Wehrlein is all smiles after getting behind the Manor for the first time this season. 

Just how good is the 21-year-old? Very good is the answer. Since making his car racing debut six years ago at the age of 16, Wehrlein has won at least one race every year, and won the DTM German Touring Car Championship in 2015.

One to watch this year.

Image source, F1.com

Here are the classification from this morning, courtesy of F1.com., external

Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

"Forced to back down and stick with Renault as an engine partner, having wanted to split completely as recently as October, Red Bull's expectations for 2016 are well under control. 

"‘Mercedes for sure on paper should win every race,’ team boss Christian Horner said. ‘Situations sometimes present themselves and we are hopeful of being in a position to grab those opportunities as and when and if they present themselves. We are not writing off anything, it is going to be a tough year for us and we know in the first half of the year there will be a lot of ground to make up. We will be satisfied getting into Q3 at the first race and then building from that.’ 

"Horner expects significant improvements in the Renault engine - which is branded as Tag Heuer in the Red Bull - as the season progresses.”

As Rhydian rightly points out, we can't read too much (if anything) into what we have seen so far...