"I have raced in Fuji a lot, perhaps more than any other driver in F1 as I spent a year doing Japanese F3 in 2006 - I had so many races there that year that it feels like my home track!" he smiled, "Last year, we had a lot of fans coming to our garage as they obviously supported Sakon [Yamamoto] and knew me from F3, so it's great to be going back.

"It's not an easy circuit, there are some particular corners where you have to be smooth and not push too hard and, of course, there is that long, long straight. This means you'll have to have a compromise set-up to make sure that you don't lose time on the straight, but you need to have a higher level through the slower middle and last sector.

"Another factor you need to watch is the weather although, after last year, I don't think I need to tell anyone about that one!"