Winkelhock trying to savour GP debut

The German received a last-minute call-up from Spyker to step in alongside compatriot Adrian Sutil for the European Grand Prix.

"It's really a very busy meeting - there is so much stuff to do that it is hard to find time to do my job!" he told autosport.com. "But it is really great to be here at my home Grand Prix in Germany, and I am just trying to enjoy my weekend. I don't have too much pressure from the team.

"But it's not easy, I didn't do very many test kilometres - I think I did 180 kilometres before this weekend, and that was three months ago. So I have no experience with the car, or with the tyres, or anything.

"It's not easy to get everything out of the tyre. I did a mistake in qualifying unfortunately, but I know that I can do better, and I will try my best in the race."

It has been a busy couple of weeks for Winkelhock, who was recently confirmed as Adam Carroll's replacement at DTM team Futurecom-TME, who are owned by Spyker boss Colin Kolles.

"It's not easy going from a DTM to a Formula One car," Winkelhock said. "It's a really big difference for the driving style. And next week I will be back in the DTM car at Zandvoort, so I have to try to change again."

Kolles said that Winkelhock should make the most of his sudden change in fortunes.

"Markus had a lot of non-busy time," Kolles said. "Now, he has a lot of busy time. This is life! He should be happy. He is in a good position right now."