2020 Australian Grand Prix

Well, I’m busy making the final preparations ahead of my Formula 1 race debut at the Australian Grand Prix. It’s going to be a pretty big week for me! I flew to Melbourne last Friday to give myself as much time as possible to adapt, especially having passed through 11 time zones travelling from the UK. Arriving early has also given me a chance to check out some of the city.

It goes without saying that I’m really, really excited! In reality the anticipation has been building day-by-day as we get closer to Sunday. When my race drive was announced in Abu Dhabi last November, this weekend seemed so far away. Now it’s pretty much here.

It’s been a long winter, with a lot of preparation to make sure I’m as ready as possible for what’s ahead. We’ve had testing, lots of meetings with engineers and simulator days. We’re all set to get going.

In terms of expectations for the first weekend, it’s still difficult to know exactly, and it’s hard to put goals on where we’ll be. But on a personal level I hope for a clean weekend, to finish every session, and to maximise the learning experience.

I know that each weekend I’ll be learning so much, and that information will be coming at me very quickly. Therefore, my aim is to be as competitive as I can be – particularly relatively to my team-mate George. He is likely to have the advantage in the early events, but I’m keen to see how we compare. We have done days together before but it’ll be the first time I’ve properly driven against him in the same car.

As a team, we have definitely taken a step forward compared to last year, and that was clear from the outset of pre-season testing in Barcelona. It was a morale booster for everyone at Williams and showed that the hard work for now has paid off.

Anyway, there’s only a handful of days to go now. I’m excited to see where we stack up when everyone is going for a proper lap. I certainly won’t be holding back on the Melbourne track!