Mercedes say new car ran like clockwork with no bouncing during testing in Bahrain

Team boss Toto Wolff also sounded positive about the campaign to come, contrasting the positive mood to the atmosphere 12 months ago.

"It seems to be balanced in the right way. There's no bouncing, which is good news," the Austrian told reporters at the Sakhir circuit.

"I think we have a solid base now to work from and try to optimise the car."

Mercedes finished third overall last year, their run of eight successive constructors' titles coming to an end as Red Bull swept both championships with Max Verstappen (25) winning 15 of 22 races and sealing his second world crown.

Hamilton failed to win a race, the first time he had gone through a season without a victory in a record-breaking career that started in 2007.

"It's good to be back in the car," he said.

"It was a nice, cool afternoon weather-wise, though windy. We got through our programme and have gathered lots of data. We also had good reliability which contributed to our strong mileage total.

"That is down to the amazing work done back at Brackley and Brixworth. We've got to keep pushing, focus on ourselves, and stay focused."

The Briton produced the sixth fastest lap of the day, and teammate George Russell (25) was ninth, but times meant little as teams focused on mileage and ran on different fuel loads.

Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said it had been a solid start and the car had run faultlessly.

"It always takes a few days to understand a new car, but we've got a reasonable handle on where we want to improve the balance," he added.

"It was encouraging that it's a much calmer, more stable platform to work with than the W13."

Shovlin said the team were working on the assumption they were still playing catch-up with rivals who also had problem-free sessions.

"Hopefully, the car continues to run like clockwork, and we can make the most of the remaining track time," he said.