Early days, but Esteban Ocon fears that claims it will be easier to overtake with 2026-cars may prove wide of the mark.

What with less drag and trimmed down downforce, not forgetting the catchily named Overtake Mode, fans (and drivers) have been promised a veritable overtake fest, the days of cars following one another for lap after lap after lap, unable to get too close for fear of losing grip, a thing of the past.

Though the limited running in Barcelona means he didn't get a chance to fully explore the new cars, Ocon's initial feeling is one of scepticism.

"I've been following a few cars," said the Haas driver. "You seem to lose quite a lot of front load, a bit more maybe than before, but we need to see.

"The overtake mode, yes, I played with it," he added. "I don't want to give too early conclusions on how it's going to be, because obviously, you know, it needs to be adjusted, optimised, etc., for that to work in a perfect way.

"But so far, it looks to be difficult to pass," he admitted. "That's my first thought about it, but I hope it's going to get on the easier side."

Teammate, Oliver Bearman, was left with a similar first impression.

"In terms of following and overtaking and everything, I didn't really get a massive feeling on that of course, it's not a priority," said the youngster. "I managed to do a few laps in and around other cars, and I must say that it was a bit more challenging to follow, given the relatively few laps I did.

"It picked up quite a big shift in balance compared to clean air, which seemed a bit more so than the previous generation of cars. But again, it's very early days.

"I didn't really get to use the overtake mode," he confirmed, "but I was still able to try it just in clean air. We need to obviously see the difference in cooling and all of those things. So I was able to try it, but I wasn't able to use it to overtake someone, if that makes sense."

Though everyone is at pains to make clear that the times posted in Barcelona were unrepresentative, it is widely accepted that lap times will be a few seconds off those of 2025, however as Formula Data Analysis points out the new cars will be much faster on the straights.

On his best qualifying lap in 2025, Ocon reached 327 km/h (203 mph) on the main straight, while last week he hit 355 km/h (220.5 mph), when "allowed full deployment" and without slipstream.

By the way, anyone else noticed that while barely a single team has issued a clear, definitive image of its 2026 car - which, we admit, will be much changed by Melbourne - the liveries have been revealed thick and fast, as has the various team merchandise, all of which is clearly targeted at the sport's newfound fans, leaving one to wonder what exactly the sport’s priorities are these days. As if we couldn’t guess.