And welcome to our coverage for the first day of F1's pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya which is definitely not in Barcelona but is definitely in Catalunya. Yes, the usual gigantic caveats go with testing in that you cannot draw too many strong conclusions from the running but that does not mean you cannot draw any conclusions.

Headline times can be misleading as we saw last season - although that is arguably because Mercedes didn't truly understand their car until the end of the second test. That said the one important thing is the amount of running any team does. Remember the awful McLaren-Honda days where they would struggle to get beyond 50 laps whilst both drivers from plenty of others teams racked up 100 laps each? Or Williams' no-show for much of the first test here last year?

The amount of track time is absolutely vital for teams heading into the season and with reduced pre-season testing this year (two tests of three days as opposed to two of four each) it will be all the more vital.

We won't necessarily know who looks in the best or even good shape come the end of the first day or even the first test. But we may know who is having a few troubles. Naturally most teams will encounter some at some stage, but that's partly what testing is for.

There are some nice additions to the grid this year when it comes to liveries and I, for one, am looking forward to seeing the AlphaTauri on track. There's plenty of white out there this year, too. Anyway, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes begin their bid for another championship double this season.

I'll be here all day with timing updates and other news from the running, which starts at 8am GMT and goes until 4pm.