It hasn't taken long for Formula 1 2022 to follow on from Formula 1 2021 in terms of debate and potential controversy, with the Mercedes and Red Bull rivalry already looking as though it has reignited during pre-season testing in Bahrain.

The sport enters a new era this year with completely overhauled regulations and that has provided a window of opportunity for engineers up and down the pitlane to get creative with their designs.

That all said, then, Mercedes have clearly been working hard at the drawing board with their new W13, with them unveiling in Bahrain this morning a revamped car compared to testing in Barcelona in February that sees them, impressively, running without any sidepods.

Potentially, this is a move from the Silver Arrows that could give them a huge upper hand in terms of performance providing it pays off and, as ever when a team appears to think of something that no other has, their design has not gone unnoticed.

It was always likely that we'd see a number of protests over the interpretation of the rules this week and, clearly, Red Bull's Team Principal Christian Horner is far from pleased with what he is seeing.

He said according to Auto Motor und Sport: "The new Mercedes violates the spirit of the regulations. For us, there are some parts that are not legal."

Red Bull, though, have since denied that Horner has said anything to the press.

A statement from the team said:

"Christian Horner has not given any interviews regarding Mercedes' car. Any quotes being attributed to him this morning are incorrect".

Though German reporter Tobi Gruner is standing by the story:

Whilst the BBC's Andrew Benson has had this to say:

Mercedes were always going to cause a stir with this approach, though, and it's clear it's a talking point for the rest of the paddock to no doubt chew over.