Lewis Hamilton was delighted to return to the Formula One action on Thursday as he made his 2012 bow at Jerez.
The 2008 World Champion took over from team-mate Jenson Button on day three of pre-season testing and completed 80 laps.
Although his best effort of 1:19.464 saw him finish the day fourth place, Hamilton was happy to get some much-need mileage in the MP4-27 under his belt.
"It felt pretty good to be out there first time, to get back out on track after such a long winter. My initial thoughts were pretty good," he said.
"Every year you arrive and you never know what to expect, but you always hope for a good platform to start from and something that the team can build from.
"I think that after today I feel quite positive about where the car is at the moment and I'm confident that the guys can push it forward."
He added: "Today you've got to remember that everyone is just focusing on their own programmes. It's not a contest for who's the fastest at the moment.
"We're just trying to get lots of running, testing the items. The Ferrari's not really showing anything just yet; of course, the Red Bull looks fast - as it usually does - and we're there I think.
"But over the coming weeks we'll get a better indication of where everyone is."
Hamilton was happy with his pace, but admits the rear end of the car felt a little different due to the outlawing of the exhaust blown diffusers.
"The car is different...last year we had so much support and stability, particularly in the high-speed corners, but now we're having to find that grip," he said.
"We'll take grip off the front and try to offload it to the rear somehow. But I think the baseline that we have is something we can really work with."
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