• Carlos Sainz starts his 11th season this weekend as a Formula 1 driver, the first one as a member of the Atlassian Williams Racing team.
• The Spaniard arrives in Albert Park after covering 1,055 kilometres at the wheel of the FW47 in the Bahrain pre-season tests.
• Pirelli has picked the C3, C4 and C5 tyre compounds for this weekend, although all teams will be keeping an eye on the sky because the current weather forecast does not rule out some light drizzle for Sunday’s race.

QUOTES:
“Just like that, the off-season is behind us and we're back in Melbourne for the season opener. It's been a busy winter getting up to speed with Williams and learning the new car but I'm ready to get behind the wheel and see how the car performs against our competitors. Whilst we did leave testing feeling positive about our performance and gains, it's always difficult to tell without knowing what our competitors are doing, so we'll have a better understanding come qualifying on Saturday".

“I want to give a big thank you to everyone across the team for pushing hard these last few months to get the car ready and in a good position for us; hopefully we can have a strong start to the season and carry some positive momentum already from Australia onwards. Vamos!”.

COMING UP:
Friday, 14 March 2025

• Free Practice 1: 12:30 local time (02:30 CET)
• Free Practice 2: 16:00 local time (06:00 CET)