Wider and simpler front and rear wings have been introduced this year in a bid to try to help improve overtaking, with the 2018 cars having been notoriously difficult at running close together on track.

While there has been a great deal of scepticism about how much of a difference the changes will make, Magnussen said he was hugely encouraged by the totally different feel he had when shadowing a rival in testing.

“I followed a car today and you know it really really feels a lot better than last year,” said the Haas driver.

“There were so many people, even guys from here, that when the car was just in the wind tunnel and before we put the cars on track, a lot of people were saying that it wouldn't make any difference.

“But following a car today I felt a big difference. You know, it felt completely different. I could actually follow. I was a lot faster than the guy I was following and I passed him...

“The lap that I caught him, I got past him. And I must have been around two seconds faster, in which case you would have also passed him last year, I think. But it just felt very, very... feeling the car behind the other car felt different. Much better.”

Magnussen said he followed the other car for one and a half laps, and said the main impression he had was that his car was much less unpredictable.

“The whole car just feels more consistent and stable behind another car,” he said. “So I am looking forward to see if other tracks are the same.

“There are always different factors that you might have overlooked, so you come to another track and it might be different, but the first signs are good I would say in this following aspect.”

He added: “Maybe it's too much! So now that we have this bigger rear wing it's too easy to pass and we won't see racing any more!”