With the first test out of the way, one of the teams that is really causing a buzz amongst the fans is Lotus indeed, according to the poll on our front page, of those who have voted, Kimi Raikkonen is currently favourite for the 2012 title.

While that might be a little over optimistic, trackside operations director, Alan Permane, admits the atmosphere within the team is buoyant after Jerez.

"You can definitely feel the effects around the factory," he said. "Everyone seems to have a smile on their face. Having said that, we're not going to try and run before we can walk. We're very conscious that there's a long way to go. The car is certainly reliable and well balanced, but it's too early to say any more than that at this stage. It's impossible to predict performance after just one test."

Asked what the most important thing the team has taken away from that first outing, the Englishman responds: "I would say there are two things. I really can't separate one as being more important than the other.

"The first as we've mentioned before is the reliability of the car, which has been very impressive so far. Although we had a few niggling issues there was nothing that stopped us running for a significant length of time. The second is the way the car responds to set-up changes. The E20 is clearly a nice package. When we make changes to the car the drivers can feel it, whether it be positive or negative, which means that further down the line it will be a much easier car to set up and dial pace into.

"This week we'll be building our second car up," he continues. "So it's chassis two that will be going to Barcelona, while chassis one will be rebuilt and taken to the seven post rig in our research and development facility for suspension development work.

With another week before testing resumes, at Barcelona, some might think that this offers the team a chance to take a well-earned breather, don't you believe it.

"It's given some of us the chance to have a weekend off which is always nice after an intense few days at the circuit," says Permane. "Having said that, while we're not quite experiencing the full-on 18 hour days of last week, everyone is straight back to working hard in preparation for the next test. The engineers will be analysing set-up options, reflecting on what we learned in Jerez and how we can apply that knowledge in Barcelona and throughout the season. There's a long list of improvements we're looking to make. We had a few minor issues with radiator leaks and so on but nothing major, and certainly nothing we won't have fixed in time for Barcelona."