The 30th of September 2013 was a day I’d been waiting for virtually all my life.
Just for a moment when I was told that I’d finally be testing a Formula 1 I thought somebody was pulling my leg.
To tell the truth, until I’d actually seen the car with my name on it and slid into the seat with the engine running I still wasn’t a totally convinced.
The experience was stunning, in part because the car was light years ahead of anything else I'd ever driven in terms of performance. At the same time though, I had to try to keep calm and concentrate of the job to be sure of creating a good impression and to do everything I could to make my mark.
The main differences between a GP3 and an F1 car, apart from having twice as many horses (from 400 to around 800), are its brutally short and powerful braking and its cornering ability. It feels like the moment when you have to lift off the gas with the F1 never comes; it's simply incredible.
As well as thanking once again the Lotus F1 Team for this fantastic opportunity, I’d like to say thanks to all my friends and the members of the press who were with me at the track and all those wrote to me and looked me up when I got back. Obviously I hope that this day can be repeated time and time again… but I’m already concentrating on the race in Abu Dhabi, the last in the GP3 calendar.