Nakajima pleased to match Rosberg

The Japanese driver, who replaced retiring veteran Alex Wurz, ended the dry-weather session a mere 0.011 seconds behind teammate Nico Rosberg, the due finishing 7th and 8th fastest.

"It was good for my first day, especially the afternoon session," Nakajima stated. "My lap time was quite close to Nico's - and that was one target for the weekend.

"We had some balance problems, but I think that is the same for everyone here. The track is really good fun to drive and it's not giving my neck any problems. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's qualifying session now."

Williams technical director Sam Michael complimented Nakajima's work, saying: "Kazuki did a good job on his first day as a Formula One race driver, and he'll be aiming to repeat the performance again tomorrow."

But despite the good showing, teammate Rosberg warned that his team have not yet shown the full potential of their package.

"It was a pretty good day for us, especially in the wet, but you always need to be careful with Friday's times," Rosberg said. "We didn't show our true potential, but that's probably the same for everyone today."

He also said tyre choice will be crucial ahead of tomorrow's qualifying session.

"We had a dry track in the afternoon and we now know that the tyre choice is going to be difficult," the German stated. "We tried a few directions on the set-up; we didn't get it quite perfect, but we know how to get it right for tomorrow's qualifying."