CARLOS Sainz is relishing the chance to impress in front of his home fans in tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old, who drives for the Enstone-based Renault team, has scored points in all three of his previous Formula 1 races at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Sainz heads to the track, where he has a dedicated grandstand for his fans, on the back of a morale-boosting fifth-placed finish in Azerbaijan a fortnight ago.

And he cannot wait to build on that performance this weekend.

Sainz said: “It’s quite a special grand prix for me.

“It’s a race where I’ve always done well, I have very good memories here and it’s always one of my favourites.”

Barcelona will offer teams a different challenge this year.

Although it is used for pre-season testing, inclement weather prevented valuable time on the new tarmac.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg added: “Obviously conditions are very different now.

“Teams usually bring updates here, so it’s going to be interesting to see how things pan out.”

Grove-based Williams head to Spain hoping to build on their first points of the season in Baku last month.

Their week has been disrupted by the news chief designer Ed Wood has left the team for personal reasons.

The FIA has also rejected Williams’ appeal of a three-place grid penalty handed to Sergey Sirotkin after a collision in Azerbaijan.

Teammate Lance Stroll admits he his not overly looking forward to the race.

He said: “Every track is challenging, but Barcelona is not one of my favourites.

“We have driven it so many times it can become a bit repetitive.”

Sirotkin added: “It’s obviously a time of the year where people bring upgrades so it will be nice to see where we are with our bits compared to other teams.”

Romain Grosjean is eyeing his first points for the Banbury-prepared Haas team.

The Frenchman is one of only two drivers yet to get off the mark in 2018.

He said: “I did quite like the new tarmac at Barcelona.

“There was more grip than it had previously, and a faster lap time.

“Now the question is going to be how it is with warmer weather.”

Teammate Kevin Magnussen added: “It’s very tight in the midfield and we’re all very closely matched.

“Even a small mistake can be very costly in terms of positions because everyone’s so close, but it makes for exciting racing.”