His Formula One career has not taken the smoothest of paths so far, but one constant for Kevin Magnussen has been an appearance at the Australian Grand Prix.
Melbourne is the scene of Magnussen's biggest highlight as he made his F1 debut here in 2014 and scored a podium, which remains his best result in the sport. That dream scenario was not repeated a year later, however, as Magnussen failed to start for McLaren on what was his only appearance deputising for the injured Fernando Alonso.
More than just the disappointment of not racing, last year's situation also robbed the Dane of the chance to race in IndyCar alongside his McLaren reserve duties, and by the end of the season he was without a drive in any category.
Now given another shot in F1 with Renault, Magnussen sat down with ESPN in the Albert Park paddock to relive those tumultuous last 12 months.
This is basically a second chance for you, how does it feel?
"Just awesome. It feels amazing to be back. I'm just so happy that I have the chance to be racing in Formula One again, it's truly a dream."
Last year you were called up late by McLaren to race here, what was the feeling when you came here? Were you excited?
"No, I wasn't. It felt bad because I knew it wasn't my car, I knew it wasn't going to be for the whole season. Actually it was really frustrating. It felt bad. If I could have chosen I probably wouldn't have done it, I would have just been in IndyCar, racing, having fun and winning races."
Did you know when you were told that you had to drive what the repercussions were for your IndyCar hopes?
"I knew. The IndyCar thing wasn't 100% sure but it was 100% sure that I wouldn't be racing if I came here, so that was a little bit frustrating. Obviously I enjoyed every lap that I had in the car but it's just frustrating because you know what's coming up and that wasn't so exciting."
Were there talks about you maybe not driving to allow you to go and do something else?
"No, no. I was committed to Formula One, I wanted to show that I will do Formula One over anything. I wanted to be loyal to the team and I wanted to show them that I was there for them, but here we are."
How frustrating was it not to run or was it a relief?
"That was ... I knew it wasn't going to be the most exciting race. We were like six seconds off the pace, so all in all not a great weekend!"
Well if you go on from there, what was the timeline from that point to where we are at now?
"So the first two thirds of the season were just being at the races, very rarely driving the simulator, just like time off really, which was just strange. Having so much time off, it was like being out of a job and I felt so awkward, you know? I was missing racing, being a bit depressed because it's what I lived for and when I'm not racing I get angry and moody. Bored as well. So just boring and not nice.
"At the end of the year I started looking elsewhere and I realised I had to look elsewhere because there was the possibility that I would not get a Formula One drive. Then I went to test the Porsche LMP1 and had an awesome time, it was really good fun. The car was mega to drive and the team was really cool and I could see myself having fun in that, but still my heart was aching a little bit because it's not Formula One, it's not my dream. I've dreamt about this my whole life and this is what I want to do with my life.
"Anyway I also went to test the DTM and had fun there as well, and then in the very last minute this [seat at Renault] came about and everything was alright again."
When you were testing other cars and looking at other options, did it increase your hunger to get back to F1 or did it show you there were options outside that you could still enjoy?
"I'd say it even increased the hunger because I realised that Formula One isn't the only thing you can have fun in - you can have fun in LMP1 and Le Mans and DTM and IndyCar and everything - you can have fun, maybe even more fun in the car, but this is my dream. This is different. This is an ambition that I've had all my life. I didn't feel like I was being true to myself if I went to drive something else because that's not my dream. This is my dream."
Do you almost see that as a positive then?
"It made me realise how important Formula One is for me."
And I guess you can use that as motivation; you don't want to let it go for a second time...
"Definitely. It's not like I'm working harder this time because I worked flat out last time, but there are definitely things that I can do better. Thinks that I can look back on and say 'don't do that again' and 'do this this time'. But generally I just feel so much more happy to be here. When you lose something sometimes you realise how much it means to you.
"This time round I'm enjoying every single moment. I don't think I was enjoying Melbourne so much last time because you're so stressed. The first time I came here I was quite stressed and there's so many new things. This time I feel much more relaxed and more positive."
You were committed to McLaren last year but when you look at the opportunity you've now been given at Renault, as a potential team leader does that increase the role and make it a better opportunity for you personally?
"You can see it from more than one perspective I guess. It's good to have a really experienced driver. For me to be alongside Jenson was mega because I was learning a lot from him, but Jolyon is a really good driver as well and I'm going to learn a lot from him as well, other things. But in terms of the technical stuff Jenson didn't help me with anything at all because he wanted to look after himself of course, which is the same for every driver on the grid. But in terms of just looking at the data and comparing, I obviously learned a lot.
"So I don't think it's a massive difference really. At the end of the day you try to work together as much as you can without helping the other too much to drive the team forward. Because that will benefit you as well."
New start, how good a fit is it to be doing so in a team that's starting again such as Renault?
"Yeah that's also a very positive thing. For me as a young driver to be at a team that's also in its early stages with a new set-up, trying to grow, it's a similar sort of stage that I'm at. So that makes quite a lot of sense to me. It fits quite well."
Do you see it as a fight with Jolyon [Palmer] to make yourself team leader?
"It's the same for any driver in Formula One, you need to perform otherwise you're out. It's pretty simple."
In all honesty if you go out on track and you're racing a McLaren, is it going to mean more to you? You're proving to them what they've passed up on maybe?
[Smiles] "What do you think?"