Daniel Ricciardo is aiming to banish the memories of previous disappointing home races by laying the foundations for♏ a Formula 1 title bid at this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix. 

The Australian, whose best career result at Melbourne is a fourth place finish from 2016, suffered a frustrating home race last year as he crashed out of qualifyin🅷g. 

Due to start from 15th, Ricciardo encountered further problems on his way to the grid, forcin🥀g him into the pitlane for repairs. He eventually rejoined the race from the pitl🎃ane two laps down on the rest of the field, but retired at half-distance with a fuel pressure problem. 

“Not starting last year wa⭕sn't fun at all - It has to be more fun,” Ricciardo said at the drivers’ pre-race press conference in Australia on Thursday.

“Even little things like last year we missed the anthem on the grid because I was in 𒁏the garage trying to get the thing g𒐪oing. 

“I missed a lot of the Sunday build-up which was not fun, so for su🤡re this preparation🔜 is going to be more fun this weekend and we'll see where that fun takes us.”

Pre-sea🔴son testing at Barcelona suggested Red Bull could be in th🐟e mix for world championship title contention, with Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton labelling Red Bull as its biggest threat heading into the new campaign. 

Hamilton reiterated his♔ belief that Red Bull will be challenging from the off at 𒁏Albert Park this weekend - something Ricciardo is hoping will prove a reality. 

“This is a year wh𝓡ich our prep has been good and I really hope Lewis is right that we will have a chance to f✤ight for the title and then that’ll ultimately make me very happy.

“We had a good winter, I think it's all there in front of us now. I think we're still the top three teams with Merc and ♚Ferrari and us. 

“I think we're still going to be leading the pack for now. Hopefully we're deep 🥀in that front group and have the chance to stand up on that podium.”