“Towards the end of the morning, I had the chance to do a couple of new tyres runs, which helped me build confidence in the car and, each time, I improved my lap times. We made good progress across the two half-days and the team was happy with how things went so, overall, it has been a very positive experience."

Unsurprisingly, re-acquainting himself with an F1 car only whetted van der Garde's appetite for more, and the Dutchman may now attempt to find a testing deal to complement his racing activities in 2009.

"This experience has made me even more determined to get back behind the wheel of an F1 car some time soon," he noted, "Not only was the car a great drive, it was also a valuable experience working with the ING Renault F1 team.

"Their methods are generally reasonably similar to what I'm used to in the Renault series, but everything is that little bit more advanced - including the technology. The number of people who work on the car is staggering!"