Kiesa Relieved to Put Maiden GP Behind Him

Formula One debutant Nicolas Kiesa was relieved his first Grand Prix was over and is looking to a better remaining part of the season.

The Danish driver, replacing Briton Justin Wilson at the Minardi team, had a tough baptism, finishing the German Grand Prix more than five laps down in 12th position after what he said was a lonely race. Jaguar's Mark Webber, the driver classified in front of him, finished two laps ahead.

Despite the result, the rookie was happy to make it to the end of the race.

"For quite a lot of the race, I was out there on my own, with no other cars around, and that can be quite hard," said Kiesa. "You haven't got anyone to judge your pace against, and you find your self pushing a bit harder and a bit harder, to the point where it would be easy to lose concentration and make a mistake.

"It was definitely a hard race, but I'm relieved to have my first Grand Prix behind me. I now know what to expect, which will definitely help me in the future. As for the car, it was good for the first four or five laps of each stint, but then the handling started to degrade and I found myself grappling with quite a lot of oversteer.

"I'd particularly like to thank everyone on the team, though, for making my Formula One debut a really good experience."