Kevin Magnussen believes it's important to get a strong result in the opening race of the season as it provides a real morale boost for the remainder of the year.
Magnussen has joined Formula 1's newest team, Haas, for the 2017 season, following previous stints at McLaren and Renault. .
The American outfit enjoyed a stunning start to its rookie campaign last year, with Romain Grosjean taking sixth in Australia, before improving to fifth in Bahrain.
Magnussen is hoping to replicate those results to get his and Haas' season off to a flying start.
"It’s always important to have a good start to the year just to kick-start everything," said the Dane. "It gives you a boost to have a good beginning.
"The end is important too, but it’s always nice to start off the year with a good race. We’ll do our best and see what we get.
“My goal for the season, and it’s the same for the team, is to try and improve on the result from last year, which was very good.
"Going on to then finish eighth in the constructors championship, with 29 points, was a great result for a first-year Formula 1 team. To improve on that, even just a little bit, would be a good target."
