With only a week to go before the first race of 2014, I’m more excited than ever to begin my debut season with Red Bull in Australia. The last few years that I’ve raced at Albert Park were fantastic. Now, with Mark gone, to compete in front of my home crowd as the only Aussie on the grid, there’s definitely a bit more pressure.

Well, some people call it pressure but I call it excitement and motivation — it’s all positive. You just have to use that feeling, as well as the adrenalin to get through the weekend. To be honest, while it’s great being at a home grand prix, when you’re in the car, helmet on, everything gets shut out and you focus on the race. You try not to dwell on pressure and expectation and just got with the flow.

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In terms of my goals for the season, I would love to be on that podium — I am yet to do that in F1 so that’s the first target and then I have to push myself to challenge Seb.

News_Rich_Media: Red Bull's troubles have continued right up to the conclusion of Formula One testing, with Sebastian Vettel crashing out despite completing the most mileage he's covered this pre-season.

I measure myself against him and to drive alongside a four-time world champion, to see how he works, is a privilege and I can learn so much from him. I’ve known Seb a few years now and because of the age gap being so small we have things in common, we like to joke around together behind the scenes so it’s a pretty easy going relationship for now.

As always though, once the racing starts, that’s when it gets serious on the track as it does with all opponents. I know he will bring his best game and I think he knows I will too.

We will push each other and see who can come out on top. Hopefully I’ll get a few victories under my belt by the end of the season and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a win from Seb!

So getting on the podium, working hard and challenging my team-mate, that’s the plan initially.

News_Image_File: Ricciardo and Red Bull have endured a torrid winter test program.

In terms of our car, I think most people know that testing has been a trial and error period for us.

The early stages yes, they were looking a bit tricky, but now we have our heads around it more, not just the car but all the components.

Each day at testing we were putting in better times. I still wouldn’t say we are top of the charts but we are getting there and we have the best guys in the world to get things as good as they can be for Melbourne.

News_Rich_Media: Red Bull's Daniel Riccardo and Sebastian Vettell look like heading into the Australian Grand Prix down on confidence after more frustration in testing in Bahrain, with world champion Vettel struggling to even make it out of pit lane.

As well as getting the car right we have to think about the new rules that have come in. We still don’t really know which way the alterations are going to swing in terms of whether the front guys will gain a bigger advantage or if the back markers will close the gap, it’s maybe too early to say but hopefully for the sport it brings everything closer and makes for great racing.

As the year goes on teams will develop and make changes so whoever comes out and wins in Melbourne will not necessarily continue like that all year. In terms of competition, I think Mercedes are looking like the strongest threat, Lewis and Nico will come out strong in Melbourne.

On the whole I can’t wait for this season to get started. I love my job and I am living my dream driving in F1. I’ve wanted to do this as a career since I was a little tacker so I still have to pinch myself sometimes! I definitely want to be a champion one day and while I still have a bit of a way to go for that, I’m ready for the hard work.