As if last year's title race was not close enough, Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton expects more competition for his crown when the season gets under way in Melbourne on March 29.
The Briton's McLaren was seventh fastest out of the eight cars which tested at Jerez, in Spain, on Wednesday as Renault's Fernando Alonso led the way.
Hamilton said it is far too early in his team's pre-season preparations to be overly concerned, but admitted many of his rivals were already looking strong.
"This is my first day with Ferrari being at the same track, so for me it looks very similar to every other year - 2007 and 2008," he said. "Just from looking at the times, it looks like [Toyota] are doing quite a good job.
"But I think a lot of the teams are doing quite good jobs.
"The Renault doesn't look bad, the BMW doesn't look bad, so there are quite a lot of teams looking pretty impressive at the moment."
Hamilton has called on his team to knuckle down over the coming weeks if they want to have any chance of retaining his title.
"I haven't arrived here thinking I'm world champion, I've arrived thinking I've got a great team I need to push as hard as I can. We've got a lot of work to do to make sure we're ready for Australia," said Hamilton, who finished the runner-up in the 2007 title race.
* PA Sport
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Tips for entertaining with ease
· Set the table the night before. It’s a small job but it will make you feel more organised once done.
· As the host, your mood sets the tone. If people arrive to find you red-faced and harried, they’re not going to relax until you do. Take a deep breath and try to exude calm energy.
· Guests tend to turn up thirsty. Fill a big jug with iced water and lemon or lime slices and encourage people to help themselves.
· Have some background music on to help create a bit of ambience and fill any initial lulls in conversations.
· The meal certainly doesn’t need to be ready the moment your guests step through the door, but if there’s a nibble or two that can be passed around it will ward off hunger pangs and buy you a bit more time in the kitchen.
· You absolutely don’t have to make every element of the brunch from scratch. Take inspiration from our ideas for ready-made extras and by all means pick up a store-bought dessert.