Formula 1 is back! The first test is upon us this week with three days penned in at the Catalunya circuit in Barcelona to offer each of the ten teams a first proper chance to see just where their new cars for the 2022 season rank.

Certainly, there's a greater sense of intrigue around this testing season than there has been in many a year thanks to the new regulations coming into force, and calling exactly how it's going to all unfold is a task reserved for someone with a far better crystal ball than us.

That all said, we've taken a look at 5 big questions that need answers this week in Spain...

Who'll emerge fastest?

You can never read too much into test sessions in Formula 1 but, even so, it will be interesting to see who's on top come the end of the week in Barcelona.

Mercedes and Red Bull will want to see that they remain the teams to beat, whilst the likes of Ferrari and McLaren will hope to see that they have closed the gap to last year's pace-setters.

What will each car actually look like?

A number of teams have revealed 'show cars' across this month's launch season and so it's only now we're going to start seeing what each F1 contender actually looks like in spec that should be similar to what they run next month in Bahrain.

Development is going to be huge this season, though, so that said there'll be plenty of tweaks between even now and March 20th.

How will the new regulations impact lap times?

There's a theory that the new regulations might make the 2022 set of cars a little slower than those in 2021 but others have suggested the deficit might be minimal between eras.

We'll get a good idea of where they rank, though, with the Catalunya circuit the perfect place to compare this season's lap times with those of last year and previous campaigns.

Mercedes' W13

How will driver changes go?

Valtteri Bottas is driving for Alfa Romeo this season whilst George Russell is at Mercedes, and both will be eager to get up and running well with their new teams ahead of the new season.

Alex Albon returns to the sport and will want a productive test with Williams, meanwhile, whilst Guanyu Zhou makes his debut for Alfa Romeo and will want to get a lot of mileage under his belt.

Will there be any big surprises?

This is the big one. In truth, it's hard to really know how indicative this first test is going to be compared to season-long performance but it's still going to grab headlines if an Alfa Romeo is top of the time sheet or if Red Bull have fallen back.

The new regulations open the door for potential surprises, and everyone will be looking for them in the coming days.