F1: Formula One terrifies McNish

Scottish rookie Allan McNish came safely through his first day as a Formula One driver in Australia this morning, then admitted: ‘‘That was absolutely terrifying.’’

The 32-year-old clocked the 16th fastest time in first practice for Sunday’s race in Melbourne for his Toyota Racing team, who were also making their grand prix bow.

‘‘It’s like any first day in a job you are bound to be a bit nervous,’’ said the Scot, who was first man on the circuit today as he finally made it into the grand prix ranks 12 years after first testing an F1 car.

‘‘I had not been emotional about it until I got to the gate last Thursday and realised it was all starting now and then again when I was driving out of the pit-lane this morning.

‘‘That’s when I had to stop and start getting on with what is my job. In a way it’s a relief to get the first day over with nothing going wrong. It went better than we expected in some ways.

‘‘The conditions were not good for that first session. The track was very wet and slippery and I am just glad I kept the car on the black stuff.

‘‘We were just glad to get the first session over, then we could concentrate on making progress in the second session.

‘‘It was important that, as a team, we did not make any mistakes, which we didn’t, and now I can just get on with the rest of the weekend.’’

McNish saw team-mate Mika Salo mark the Japanese car giant’s debut - and the start of their £700m (€1.14bn) bid to win the world championship - with the sixth best time.

‘‘We are a little higher than we expected to be,’’ added Dumfries-born McNish, who resurrected his career in sportscars after being unable to progress from test driver status at McLaren and Benetton.

‘‘We knew we had a good car but we still had to prove it on the track, which is what we did today.’’