Robert Kubica admits his main focus is on helping Williams rather than the emotion of his Formula 1 return in Australia.
The Pole received applause led by Daniel Ricciardo for overcoming the life-threatening injuries sustained in his rally crash in 2011 to once again be back on the grid.
However, his first race is likely to be a tough one as Williams try to overcome a disastrous pre-season which sees them at a disadvantage to the rest of the field.
“Yeah, it has been a long time, a long time away from the sport [but] emotions, to be honest, there is not really a lot of time to think about them,” he said in the Thursday press conference.
“You are focused on the job, focused on the things to do, trying to learn as much as you can about new F1 because things have changed quite a lot since I was racing here last time.
“Just trying to prepare; trying to be ready. We didn’t have the perfect start to winter testing, so there are a lot of things to be checked, to see how they will be and yeah, let’s see.”
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In the wake of the events in Spain, technical director Paddy Lowe has taken a leave of absence while Kubica claimed he was only 20 percent ready for the race at Albert Park.
And while he did praise the effort by Williams over the past few weeks to catch up, the 34-year-old also admits expectations are low.
“The guys are pushing really hard, especially on track but also in the factory. It is a difficult period but we have to make sure we are doing everything we can in the current situation,” he explained.
“We cannot change it, so we have to make we concentrate on what we have. We just need to do our job and this is the approach of each member of the team we are having.
“We have to make sure we maximize our opportunities from what we have,” Kubica concluded.