Vettel enjoys first STR outing.

Sebastian Vettel has thanked the Scuderia Toro Rosso team for making him feel welcome as he embarked on his maiden outing with the team during free practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Vettel rolled out for his first miles in the STR car in morning practice and although it isn't his first race weekend having competed for BMW at the United States Grand Prix, the young German is still expected to take time adapting to the Ferrari-powered machine.

Returning to the circuit he raced at in the World Series by Renault only last month, Vettel got the edge on Vitantonio Liuzzi in the first session with the 16th fastest time. Although he would slip to 20th behind Liuzzi in the quicker afternoon session, there was little to choose between the two drivers.

Indeed, the German, who scored a point on his debut with BMW in June, was pleased with his progress even if he admits it is proving a steep learning curve.

"I have enjoyed my first day and everyone has made me feel very welcome and already I have the impression that I am a full team member. The most important thing today was to get some experience in the car and in that respect I feel we did a good job, picking up a lot of useful data for tomorrow and for the race.

"I feel good and it was a pleasure to drive the car. Of course, everything about this car is different to what I have driven before, as every car has different controls on the steering wheel and different modes, so I worked on getting used to this."