A surprise visitor to the Barcelona paddock this morning was world champion Nico Rosberg, the German keen to see the latest generation of cars with which the drivers will fight for his crown this year.

"They look absolutely monstrous," he told the swarm of reporters that quickly gathered and followed him.

"They look very, very aggressive and everybody's excited and that's great to see," he continued, the newly appointed Mercedes ambassador appearing to be seeking a similar role for the sport.

"The drivers are loving it,” he beamed, “and I think this year they will be proper gladiators out there. The cars will take them to their physical limits, we might even see drivers losing race wins because of just being game over physically. And that's what we need."

Inevitably, he was asked about his retirement and whether seeing the cars again had caused him to doubt his decision.

"There was not one single moment where I thought; 'Damn I should be sitting in that car'," he insisted.

The German spent time in his old home, the Mercedes garage, taking time to chat to his replacement, Valtteri Bottas.

"He's a good driver so we need to expect that he will be challenging Lewis," he smiled. "It's difficult to predict exactly how they are going to compare. We know Lewis is a massive benchmark so it's never going to be easy against him but sure there’s going to be a battle."

Previously, Rosberg had admitted that as a spectator he would have liked to see Fernando Alonso in the second Mercedes. Based on the last couple of days evidence we have no doubt that the Spaniard would agree.

Check out our Wednesday gallery from Barcelona, here.