Lando Norris has revealed he is happy to be starting the upcoming F1 season in Australia as he feels it is a strong track for McLaren.
Melbourne hosts the season-opening round for the first time since 2019 next week, with McLaren entering the event as a favourite to contend for the F1 titles.
Norris took his first podium of the season last year at Albert Park before launching a bid for the drivers' championship, falling short to Max Verstappen.
Verstappen dominated the opening round in Bahrain last year, but Red Bull ran into issues in Australia which saw Ferrari come out on top.
With the opening round changed to Australia this year, Norris is hopeful it will allow him to start the year on a strong foot.
“I’m looking forward to it, I love Australia,” Norris told media including RacingNews365. “Bahrain has really not been a good one for us.
“We’ve had a lot of difficulties. I wouldn't say they’re track-specific, we have just had general difficulties.
“It started in Bahrain and then it's gone to other tracks, but we were reasonable in Australia last year, it was actually a pretty decent track for us.”
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McLaren a great 'all-rounder'
McLaren successfully developed its car en route to winning the constructors' championship last year, with its first notable step coming in Miami.
Norris has stated McLaren has the strongest “all-round” car, which will serve it well in Australia.
“It was quite early on in the season, but considering how the car was performing then and how much we've been able to turn it around later on in the season, it's proved to actually be quite a good race for us," remarked Norris.
“It’s got these medium and high-speed corners, which is where we tend to be reasonably strong.
“I wouldn't say there's bad corners for us. It’s just here and there that we lack a little bit to some cars.
“But we showed we have one of the best, if not the best, all-round car.
“I wouldn't mind if we started in Bahrain. I love Bahrain, it's a bit of a home race for us at McLaren.
“But nice to go somewhere different and have the momentum.”
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