Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo is excited about racing again in the first grand prix of the Formula 1 season, the Australian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old will be racing in front of a home crowd in the season-opening event in Melbourne on March 15.

Some 12 months ago he was disqualified from the race after finishing second on his debut for Red Bull. After qualifying second and finishing runner-up, his fantastic start was ripped away after being disqualified for exceeding hourly fuel flow rate limits.

Ricciardo was the only man to win a grand prix in the 2014 season other than Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Niko Rosberg, but Red Bull have not enjoyed the greatest pre-season testing.

However, Ricciardo is looking forward to racing on home turf and representing Australia in the sport of Formula 1. Ricciardo is 17.00 to win the 2015 World Drivers’ Championship, with Hamilton the favourite to win the title at 1.58.

“I’m just excited to finally go racing again and for me it’s fun,” Ricciardo said. “Obviously I’m really privileged having it at home, but in any case, it means it’s a start to a new year. There is always new motivation and I think it’s exciting.

“Testing has been relatively good for us. We had a few reliability issues but we racked up a lot of miles and learned a lot. I still feel that we have a bit more to go. But there is no better place to do this than going racing. I’m ready to go.”