While his new Mercedes teammate George Russell was getting the f🌠irst opportunity to drive the W13 at Barcelona, Hamilton spent time eyeing up t🎀he competition during a wander through the pitlane. 

Hamilton spent time observing all the cars but was particularly ౠinteres♒ted in Red Bull’s radical new challenger as he paused outside reigning Max Verstappen’s garage. 

Indeed, the RB18 grabbed plenty of attention when it broke cover in public for 🗹the first time on Wednesday, revealing an extremely aggressive sidepod design when reigning world champion Verstappen emerged out on tr🍌ack. 

Pre-season testing can often feel like a mundane and laborious affair for the drivers, but F1’s revolutionary rules reset has sparked huge intrigue.&nbs🍬p;

That sens♛e of excitement was shared by the seven-time world champion, who was beaten to👍 the title last year by Verstappen in the infamous Abu Dhabi finale that remains shrouded in controversy. 

“It’s probably one of the most exciting and interesting seasons that I have ever embarked upon💖♏,” said Hamilton. 

ꦑHe added: “I think every year is exciting but of course, in the previous years it was an evolution of the previous year’s car. In thi♍s one, it’s completely brand new. 

“I’veꦅ seen the designs of our car over several months. But now seeing everyone’s c😼ar out there, you are just trying to get a close eye seeing what’s different and if there’s anything, why certain teams have chosen certain routes in terms of sidepod designs and front wings. 

"It will be interesting to see where everyone comes out and where🔯 we stand at the start of the first race.”

There had been fears that the new 2022 cars would look very similar in design, but it has now bജecome clear that scope for interesting development solutions exits. 

Teams have offered a wide variety of sidepod and front wing solutions, two areas in particular that have ꦛpiqued the interest of the drivers. 

“It🥃 is exciting,” said McLaren’s Dani💞el Ricciardo, who will get his first chance to drive the MCL36 on Thursday. “I think the more years you do, the less excited you are to test, but the more excited [you are] to go racing. 

“It’s definitely the most excited I’ve been in a while to go winter testing and t𝓰he curiosity to see what direction teams have gone.

“And just visually, the cars 🦹look really cool. Just the whole stance of them this year as well. For a long time, high rear ride heights, this sort of stuff, it all seems to be just a different way for this year. 

“Even just seeing the philosophies around that is cool. Even seeing stuff like renders compared to real,🌃 that’s exciting to see on track.”

Meanwhile, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez said it is “very interesting to see the different approaches from different tea✃ms”. 

F1’s new generation of cars have been designed with the intention of improving the racing and creati⭕ng a more competitive grid and Hamilton hopes the world championship can achieve its goal. 

“I do 🐭hope💮 that these rules deliver what Ross [Brawn, F1 motorsport director] showed us years ago in terms of closer racing,” he said. “It definitely puts everyone hopefully on a more level playing field.” 

But Hamilton was quick to dismiss the suggestion that Mercedes could have gone in the wrong direction with its 2022 concept🌠.&nb𒀰sp;

“My team don’t make mistakes,” he stressed. “Of course, there is always 🥂a risk, but we don’t make mistakes.” 

With just one day of pre-season testing complete, it is impossible to draw any real conclusion into who has got the new rul💙es right (or wrong) and how the pecking order 𝓀could shape up this year.

Lando Norris was quick to play dꦰown McLaren’s prospects after he topped the open♔ing day of running in Spain. 

“It’s way too early to tell anything,” Norris ex꧋plained. “Of course now we’re P1 and everyone is going to think we’re going to win the race, but no chance. 

"It feels good, I think we made some good improvements already from the beginning of the day, but we’re only in day one of the season and even if we’re amazing now everything can chang🍎e by the time we get to the first race. 

“Everything ca🐠n change by the second. The rate of development that everyone’s going to bring to the first half of the season is going to be extremely high. I just hope it’s fast, it feels good. 

“There are definitely many things to work on,♓ some things not feeling ♑so good, but for a new car and something we never drove before - for so many new things - I think it was a decent start.”