It’s notoriously difficult to overtake in Barcelona, so it’s important to get a good start and stay out of trouble on the first lap. After that, it’s a case of getting the strategy right, managing the tyre wear and maximising performance at the right times. It’s a fast circuit, so it’s certainly demanding for both the car and driver. The power unit, too, has to work very hard with such high average speeds. As always, reliability is a priority first and foremost, but I hope that the upgrades we’ll test on Friday will see us continue to push race by race, and allow us to keep fighting towards the front alongside our rivals in the midfield. After an eventful few races, and after a good result for us in Russia, I’m looking forward to going ‘home’ to Barcelona and race in my country in front of my home fans. The atmosphere there is always incredible for any Spanish driver, and I have some very special memories from my wins there in 2012 and 2013. We’re still learning a lot about our package as we visit each track, so it’s useful that we already have a lot of data from testing there that we can use to understand its characteristics and how our car will react to them. Our performance in qualifying is something we’re working on all the time, to give us the best chance in the race. Getting into Q3 will certainly be difficult at this track, but, with the Spanish fans behind me, that’s got to be our aim.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is not a circuit that would traditionally suit us, since it’s fairly hard on both the chassis and the power units, but I feel I have a solid car underneath me, and we’re putting in pretty consistent performances on a variety of circuits, even if our results don’t necessarily reflect all the work that’s going on back at base. In Barcelona it’s a long run down to Turn One, so I hope I can get a better start than I did in Sochi and avoid any tangles. For the race, the track surface is very abrasive and tyre wear is high, so it’ll be interesting to see how strategies play out with the softer tyre compounds we’re taking there, and learn to manage them effectively as the weekend progresses. It’s exciting to start the European season off the back of a positive race for the whole team in Sochi. There’s definitely a feeling in the camp that we’re making progress, so I’m hopeful that we can continue this momentum in Barcelona. It’s always exciting to come back to Europe for the first race in Spain. The fans are always incredibly enthusiastic, and there’s a very familiar feel at this circuit as we spend so much more time there than in other places. We have some more new parts to test on the car again for this race, so I hope we can see another positive step in our performance over the weekend.

Our double points finish in Sochi was certainly a motivating factor for the whole team back in Woking, Sakura and Milton Keynes, but it’s only just the start of an upward curve that we hope to continue riding for the rest of the season. In Russia, there’s no doubt we gained from others’ misfortune in some ways, but both our drivers report positively about the balance of the car, which reassures us that we’ve created a solid foundation, and that we can have faith in the direction in which we’re going. We’re always impatient for more, but I’m pleased that the hard work consistently being undertaken behind the scenes was finally rewarded with some valuable points, and we head into the European season hopeful of scoring some more positive results at circuits on which our car should theoretically be slightly stronger. That, coupled with an unrelenting development programme, is exciting and gives us optimism for the next few races ahead. It certainly won’t be easy – while we’ll be evaluating upgrades to the car in Barcelona, so will many other teams – but the loyal Spanish fans will be behind Fernando and the team, and we hope to put on a good show for them and carry some positive momentum into the European season.

The Spanish Grand Prix marks the beginning of a busy European summer season for Formula 1, and after the eventful first four flyaway races and a double points finish in Russia, it’s good to see everyone in such high spirits and enjoying the camaraderie within the team. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a technical circuit that is less strenuous on the power unit compared to the first four races, but much more stressful on the balance of the car. From a power unit perspective, it is important to have the correct amount of deployment, harvesting and throttle response, so our focus will be to deliver the best balance to suit the needs of our drivers. Our power unit development is ongoing and we have not yet confirmed to which races we will bring token updates, but hopefully we can fight for more points during Sunday’s race.