F1: Hamilton says new Mercedes feels the same

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes' W06 2015 car feels the same to drive as last year's all-conquering machine.

Hamilton had his first proper run in the new Mercedes at Jerez on Monday, after trying it briefly in last week's shakedown. Although he could not match teammate Nico Rosberg's Sunday tally of 157 laps, he completed 91 before being halted by a water leak.

Asked if the W06 felt very different to the W05, Hamilton replied: "No. It's the same as last year. A little bit more downforce, but otherwise it handles exactly the same.

"I'm even using the same seat from last year, the steering wheel is the same, the cockpit is the same, you just have a little more downforce. The characteristics of the car feel pretty much the same, too."

Having topped Monday's mileage chart despite the water leak, Hamilton said Mercedes should be very encouraged with its efforts to address 2014's unreliability.

"It's great to see in the first two days we're had such good running," he said. "That's a real good step for the first two days and we're going to continue to work on that. That's the foundation we want to improve on."

Hamilton admitted that he got little personal enjoyment out of the opening test of the season.

"It wasn't an exciting day; it never is," he said. "Testing is not the exciting part for any racing driver. I like racing but this is obviously the part where you build the foundation for it.

"So you come here and it's work for all of us, we're working to understand the car, to study every change whether it's driveability, whether it's tires, how they come in, how they degrade. So that's what this is all about. You can't get too excited just yet because you don't know where everyone stands."