F1 2017: First impressions trackside

With this year's changes designed specifically to improve the show, there is perhaps a greater emphasis than there has been for some time for some time on how the cars actually look.

Launches and the odd clip from a filming day gave us some idea of what to expect, but there's no substitute for getting up close at track side on what turned out to be a sunny day in Spain.

And the good news is that F1 cars 2017-style look fantastic. The rules have done what they were supposed to do, and with the wider tyres the cars just look right, the proportions better aligned than they have been for years.

It was nearly two decades ago at Barcelona that we saw the first of the new breed of narrow track cars, and it took a while to get used to them. Now we know what we've been missing all these years.

It's still way too early to make an accurate call on how fast each car is. This morning out at Turn 3, the benchmark corner for the impact higher downforce levels will have this year, they certainly appear to be quick.

Indeed, almost from the start of the session, laptimes were already significantly faster than they had been at the end of the corresponding day last year.

However, there's much more to come by the eighth day of running at end of the second test, never mind when the cars return here in May with a couple of months of development bolted to them.

A raft of new liveries have added to the impression that this is a new start for F1, and some are more effective than others.

The Toro Rosso looked good standing still in the pitlane on Sunday evening, and running around the track – with the sun reflected on the chrome logos and the bull graphic on its engine cover – it looks simply sensational.

The Sauber is attractive too, although the gold detailing probably comes across better in photographs than when it's running. The large white spaces on the sidepods appear to be beckoning a sponsor.

Although the McLaren was stuck in its garage most of the day, earlier on we saw it heading down the pitlane and the main straight and it took looked superb, the orange much more effective in the sunshine that under lights at its launch.

Perhaps the most disappointing new livery in that on the Haas, whose largely grey and black hues just seem to blend into the track.

Shark fin divides opinion

The elephant shark in the room in all this is the shark fin. Some people seem to love them, believing they add to the aggressive overall look of the cars, while others are less convinced.

There's no doubt that some teams have integrated them into the package with a lot more finesse than others. Sauber's, one of the most shark-like in shape, is matte black and hardly noticeable, while Force India's is painted silver and likewise doesn't draw too much attention to itself.

Unlike some of its rivals, the Renault seems to have been designed with the fin in mind, and it appears to be less of an after thought.

In contrast, Williams has drawn attention to the FW40's huge sail-like device with a prominent Martini stripe, which does the car few favours in the looks department.

Ferrari's fin has traditional white with Italian stripes, and while it might not be the prettiest car this year, it looks purposeful and effective out on track. STR even wins in the fin stakes, the STR12's bull logo's silver tail fitting neatly into its shape.

It's no surprise that the Mercedes was the most elegant-looking car running on track this morning, with just a hint of a fin on its tail. It gave us some idea of how good all the 2017 cars could have looked if during the rule-making process teams and the FIA had agreed to ensure that the cars wouldn't sprout fins.

The same could be said of the T-wings that several cars are running. Mercedes is due to run a full fin later today, and it will be interesting to see what effect that has on the lines of the W08.

We'll soon get used to the fins, even the less appealing ones, as we always do when these things change. One thing is sure – a full field of 20 cars is going to looks spectacular come Melbourne at the end of next month. How much of a race they actually put on is the next question.