27/02/2017
NEWS STORY
It cannot be stressed enough, and we certainly don't want to dampen anyone's enthusiasm or dash anyone’s hopes, but exciting as the prospect of a Ferrari revival might be, let's not get carried away.
That said, on the face of it, and ignoring such things as fuel loads, the Italian team certainly kept rivals Mercedes honest today, indeed Sebastian Vettel didn't even feel the need - unlike Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton - to try the soft rubber.
Pace aside - and because of the question mark over fuel loads, not to mention the fact that Mercedes made the switch to the soft rubber - what was impressive is that both teams enjoyed superb reliability, neither machine missing a beat.
While Vettel completed 128 laps in the Ferrari, between them Bottas and Hamilton managed 152, which is extremely impressive, especially when few other teams managed to get through the day without an issue.
Whatever way one looks at it, it was nightmare opening day for McLaren, Fernando Alonso managing just 29 laps and finishing tenth on the timesheets. Mind you, that's a lot better than it was looking at lunchtime when the Spaniard, having completed just 1 lap, hadn't even posted a time.
The "oil system issue" affecting the MCL32 is understood to relate to the oil tank. During the lunch-break, rather than lose further track time fixing the 'old' engine, Honda fitted another, but the problem reoccurred. At one point, as Alonso coasted to a halt on his way into the pits, the crowd began to jeer, like their hero they expected better than this.
Thankfully, the situation appeared to improve and Alonso completed 29 laps in total, finishing tenth on the sheets, but the Woking team, and its engine partner, must be hoping for better things tomorrow (and beyond).
There were technical issues for Red Bull and Force India also. Daniel Ricciardo lost much of the morning running with a sensor issue, while Sergio Perez didn't appear this afternoon, the Force India, among other things, appearing to have suffered a broken exhaust.
Kevin Magnussen damaged his wing when he had a spin shortly before lunch and clouted the barriers, the Dane admitting that he is still getting used to the car and grip levels.
Indeed, talking of grip, on the whole the drivers appear happy with the new Pirelli rubber, which appears to be good for a couple of hot laps, a cool down and then one more hot lap.
However, the general consensus is that the new rules haven't made the cars more difficult to drive and the increased aero grip means they are running as if on rails, therefore increasing the fear that overtaking isn't going to be as easy as hoped. Then again, with fans having already realised that all that talk of aggressive cars was a load of baloney…
Though the eleven drivers are covered by 5s, the top three - Massa looking extremely spritely considering just a few weeks ago he was enjoying retirement - are covered by just 0.311s.
A late improvement for Magnussen will have pleased Haas, while Force India and Red Bull will be hoping that today's issues can be put behind them.
Red Bull finally allowing the great unwashed to see its 2017 offering, the curious nose not giving the car the advantage many had suspected - at least not yet, sister team Toro Rosso appears to have come up with the prettiest car, or is merely the livery.
The fins that have blighted so many of the cars sadly made it on to the Mercedes also, indeed, the version on the Silver Arrows was the cause of much attention as it is wider than the versions being used by rival teams and clearly the object of further development by the Brackley outfit.
In terms of the new regulations, though early days, it's a question of good news/bad news.
On the one hand, today's best time was 3.174s quicker than anything posted on the opening day here last year.
On the other hand, the drivers believe the new rules mean that overtaking will be more difficult this year, while the durability of the tyres means one-stoppers are likely to be the norm.