Yamamoto just trying to avoid mistakes

The Japanese driver, who raced in ten Grands Prix last year with Super Aguri, will compete with Spyker until the end of the season after the exit of Christijan Albers.

Yamamoto had a difficult day of work after not having driven the Spyker before today. He finished slowest in both sessions, a massive 2.6 seconds off his teammate Adrian Sutil's pace in the afternoon.

"Obviously we didn't have any testing, so today was my first chance to drive a Spyker Formula One car," Yamamoto told autosport.com. "This morning we used the time for adjusting the seat fitting, sorting out the pedal positions and so on. Learning how the car reacts ... everything was new for me.

"But we were able to use the time really well, because we didn't make any mistakes, didn't have any problems. We were also to compare the two different tyres. I could learn how last year's tyres were different to this year's tyres, and that was really important for me to know."

The Japanese driver said he was just trying to avoid making mistakes today.

"Of course, as a driver, I want to push," he said. "But the situation is really that if I push now, I am going to make a mistake. And a small mistake will probably cause a big mistake.

"So right now, I should just be really calm and just learn how the car feels, how the tyres feel, and how I should drive this Spyker Formula One car."