While they may not look anything like as "aggressive" as we'd been promised, the drivers are keen to assure us that the 2017 cars are a handful to drive.

"I'm finding the car is much more physical to drive than in the past," said Lewis Hamilton at the end of his second half-day in the Mercedes. "It's so much faster in the corners.

"The force you feel on your body and on your neck is much higher," he revealed. "I've got bruises and bumps where I've never really had them before. Physically I feel fine though, as it's only half a day of testing. I've trained enough over the winter to be ready for more."

While the debate on overtaking will have to wait until Melbourne and beyond, the drivers admit that - as anticipated - the biggest difference to before is the high cornering speeds, courtesy of the new wider tyres and aerodynamic rules.

On the other hand, increased drag on the straights mean the cars don't feel as powerful as before.

"The straight-line speed doesn't feel particularly impressive," admits Jolyon Palmer. "Traction with the new car is so much better, and the drivability is probably a little bit less of a factor because of that.

"The tyres are a massive step," he added. "There is much less degradation. For us, that's quite nice as you can really lean on the tyres. There are going to be a lot of one-stop races."

Check out our Wednesday gallery from Barcelona, here.