Experience Will Help Me, Says McNish

Toyota driver Allan McNish believes his tardy arrival in Formula One could work to his advantage just as it did for former champion Damon Hill.

McNish, who was once a teenage sensation like Jenson Button, will make his Grand Prix debut as a 32-year-old in March, while Hill was 31 when he made his Brabham debut in 1992.

"When Damon came in, he had a hell of a lot of experience - not of cars but of life. He knew what happened," said the Scot at the launch of the team's first F1 car. "He was able to stand his ground.

"I think that experience of life is a very beneficial one. I have been able to use it in the last three or four years to my benefit and I know that consequently I'm a better driver and more confident driver because I am a little bit older and a bit more experienced.

"We've seen that with Jenson this year," he added of the 21-year-old Benetton driver, who struggled for most of the season after becoming the youngest ever points scorer at Williams in 2000. He was in a difficult position and it took him a wee while to find his feet and how to deal with it. When you've been through the mill once you know what to look out for."

Accept Opportunities

"I've been through the good times and the bad times and you have got accept the opportunities and grab them with both hands when they come along," added McNish.

The Scot was one of Britain's most promising youngsters in the 1980s but was involved in a Formula 3000 crash at Donington Park that killed a spectator in 1990. He later built his reputation as a 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours winner and American Le Mans sportscar champion.

"I was 19 when I first drove the McLaren and there was talk about me racing Formula One when I was 20," said McNish, recalling all the media interest in him a decade ago when he and Mika Hakkinen were young hotshots.

Hakkinen, after two world titles with McLaren, will be absent next year on a sabbatical that may extend itself into retirement or translate into a comeback in 2003.

"It would have been nice to race against Mika because obviously we knew each other and raced with each other and spent a lot of time with each other," said the Scot. "But Mika, if he was on the grid or if he is (back) in the future, will be just another driver that I have got to beat.

McNish drove against the likes of Michael Schumacher and teammate Mika Salo in Formula Three and sportscars and he made clear he would not be intimidated by them.

"It's the same in any category, you've got to go in and establish yourself, you have got to go in and muscle your way through and Formula One is no different," he said. "I have had to look after myself, you don't get through motor racing without having to learn to look after yourself."

Realistic Impression

"I'm really looking forward to actually getting in there with the other teams at testing to get a bit of an impression of where we could be realistically in Melbourne," he said. "Formula One is the hardest game in town...so therefore it definitely is a learning year.

"I don't think we will be winning races, I think that's quite clear. But I'm pretty sure that we'll have good races and I'm pretty sure we will have bad races. The important thing is that when we do have a bad race, or bad qualifying, that we go home, we learn from it, we lick our wounds and come out fighting two weeks' later."

The prototype used in testing this year was up to five seconds slower than other teams at the same circuits, leading to speculation that Toyota could start 2002 with an uncompetitive car.

"The important one is this car, not the last one," said McNish. "It will be better, how much at the moment we don't know."