Lewis Hamilton is wary of the early hype surrounding the Mercedes W07, saying it is too early to predict the competitiveness of Ferrari and Williams.
Mercedes has looked impressive so far in winter testing, accumulating big mileage without hitting any major reliability issues. Ferrari has topped four of the five days so far on Pirelli's softest two compounds but has had several days hampered by niggling issues.
Several other drivers have already predicted another dominant season for the world champions but Hamilton is not taking any notice of the praise coming in Mercedes' direction.
"Honestly, I haven't looked at where everyone else is," Hamilton said. "Naturally everyone is going to hype us up - every single person is going to hype us up. But you really don't know what fuel load Ferrari is on and they've got a strong package, even Williams has a strong package. I wouldn't take any notice of what they say."
Hamilton did a light fuel run on soft tyres on Tuesday morning, crossing in a 1:23.622. He said the W07 is still a long way away from being at its best over one lap as he continues to get acquainted with the car he hopes will land him a third straight world championship.
"To get to light fuel is always an exciting feeling, but it's always new when you get back to pushing on a single lap. The car is in a different ballpark at the moment, but not in the right one, so that's what we've got to work on to get right for tomorrow."
"Every car, it doesn't matter whether it's a winning car, is the vessel that carries you through the race whether you finish first or last. At the moment I'm just getting acquainted with it; it's like the first date".