After the 215 day wait for competitive on-track running, the picture at the very front of the field is not looking any different.
Setting a 1.04.816, Hamilton finished the session 0.356 ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Max Verstappen kept the whispers of Red Bulls title challenge up in the air finishing the session in third despite a spin on his first attempt at a lap on the soft tyres.
Beyond the predictable top three is where the eyes of the paddock quickly began to look.
Hamilton stays on top
Ferrari were working on long-run pace throughout the session which left for the fight for the midfield being the vocal point for P4 in the session.
Carlos Sainz finished in P4 less than one-tenth ahead of Racing Points Sergio Perez continuing to show the intensity and the closeness of the midfield has not faltered over winter.
Despite the promising show Perez suffered throughout the session with never-ending oil spills into the exhaust putting slight concerns into Mercedes powered teams at that point in time.
Lando Norris and Alex Albon finishing in P6 and P7 being the last of the runners to keep within a second of Hamilton.
Haas had an up and down session with Kevin Magnussen slotting in P9 with a promising show after the troubled 2019 that the team had. Despite this Romain Grosjean on the other side of the garage could not put in a timed lap due to a brake issue keeping him garage bound.
Ferrari are the only real anomaly comparing to last years performance. With Charles Leclerc finishing in P10 and Sebastian Vettel P12 both over a second off the pace in an ever gloomy-looking season ahead of them.
Free practice two, this afternoon, will give us a much clearer look at how the 2020 field will sit with everyone already trying to catch Hamilton and Mercedes.