I always look forward to going to Australia and I’m ready to start racing again. Even though the season starts earlier this year, it still felt like a long winter. Melbourne is an interesting weekend as it’s the first race of the season and nobody really knows where they stand, especially with the regulation changes and us with our new power unit. Albert Park is an interesting track, it’s actually quite bumpy and has a lot of fast corners, so it’s fun when you have a well-balanced car there. It’s not the easiest circuit to overtake on as the straights aren’t quite long enough which makes it hard to set-up a pass, but it’s always possible. If we look at our longer runs from testing, our performance seems pretty promising and we hope to be competitive from the beginning of the year. Overall, I think we have a pretty good package, but we won’t know where we are until we get into the race weekend and see if we have closed the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari.

The race in Melbourne will be my first with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, so of course I’m really excited to get this new season started. It’s only my second full season in Formula One and there are a lot of things to learn this year, which makes it even more challenging. It’s my second time in Melbourne and I really loved it when I went there for the first time last year. It has an amazing atmosphere, I don’t know if it’s because it’s the first race of the year, but there’s something special about it and the people are really relaxed and joyful. Everybody at the track is super positive and excited about the start of the new season and the paddock has a good vibe. I’ve prepared myself well all winter for this first race and first season with the Team. It’s going to be a special weekend for me wearing Aston Martin Red Bull Racing colours.