WILLIAMS rookie Lance Stroll is focused on keeping his cool ahead of his Formula 1 debut in Melbourne this weekend.

The 2017 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park on Sunday, where the Grove-based Williams outfit will be looking to make a fast start.

At just 18, Strollwill become the second youngest driver in F1 history, after Max Verstappen in 2015.

The Canadian has been pleased with the progress made during winter testing, but is taking care not to look too far ahead.

He said: “I think we still have to stay calm ahead of Australia and just do our work and see where we are.

“It’s a new track for me, but I’m going to take it step-by-step and run-by-run.”

After Valtteri Bottas left for Mercedes, Felipe Massa reconsidered his retirement to return to Williams.

The Brazilian’s main source of encouragement from testing was the lack of mechanical trouble in what is a much-changed car to fit new regulations.

He said: “I just hope that we can start the season well in Australia and we can use everything we’ve learned in the test to prepare the car for the first race.”

Williams go into the season with a new chief technical officer, with the vastly experienced Paddy Lowe joining from Mercedes.

Meanwhile, Jolyon Palmer hopes to be popping champagne on the podium with Enstone-based Renault.

The 26-year-old, who has a new teammate in Nico Hulkenberg for 2017, is an optimistic mood ahead of his second season.

He said: “The first target is for the team to be in the top five, which is certainly achievable.

“If we can do that we will be able to fight for podiums at some stage of the year.”

Banbury-based Haas begin their second campaign, with Kevin Magnussen completing the drivers line-up alongside Romain Grosjean.