We won't, of course, start to get a true picture of where we stand in this latest incarnation of Formula 1 until Saturday, March 25, when qualifying gets under way in Melbourne - and even then, given the particularities of Albert Park, the shape of the season to come may not be definitive.
Although it is never wise to set great store by the first test session of a season - not least because we don't know who was running how much fuel when - the opening week at Barcelona did seem to present certain fundamental truths, few of them unexpected.
Unsightly bargeboards and the like are back in force, and with great swathes of increased downforce, the cars are indeed significantly quicker than those of the recent past, with Mercedes yet again at the top of the pile. This, Lewis Hamilton said, was the fastest car he had ever driven.