Still pinching myself.

As many of you will have read by now, my Minardi test was a bit up and down - very good in some respects and bad in others - but, overall, I came away from the experience massively grateful to Paul Stoddart and very happy with the way it all went.

Of course, the first day wasn't so good, as I had a little off-track excursion - which is what the majority of the world would have read about - but, on the second day, I was able to really get my head down and concentrate on the job in hand, and I was pretty pleased. I did my very best that day, and it went really well.

It was a bit hard to cope with all the pressure and the press on the first day - that was another new experience for me. I think I will okay dealing with it in the future, as it's one of those things where, when you've done it once, you can deal with it better second time around. But, for sure, when I went out of the pits on the first day, I was thinking to myself 'don't stall it, don't stall it.... don't crash it' - and then look what happened!

The experience wasn't so great at that point - it was a bit of a confidence-knocker, but you can't let it affect you. Thankfully, I got another opportunity the next day, and went back, learnt loads and got lots and lots of laps under my belt. It was a shame the weather was so cold, but that's one of those things. At the end of the day, I came away thinking 'wow, I've driven a Formula One car - how cool is that?'. Even now, when I look at the screensaver on my computer, I think 'that's me in an F1 car'. It's cool!

Of course, I've read the articles in the press, and I'm trying not to read them any more. People are entitled to their opinion - even I thought, as soon as I went off, 'great, I've just done all of female-kind a disservice and no-one's going to make it into Formula One if they're female now', but so much emphasis was put on the first day because all the press and all the media were there. On the second day, nobody was there and I was able to get on with the job.

While I don't think that the absence of the media had any effect on the job I did second time around, no emphasis was put on what a good job I did the next day. It was kind of unbalanced and that's upsetting. I tend to think that the people who write these articles - the ones who are chauvinist and write the articles that go 'I smirked when Katherine went off...' or whatever - ought to see what they can do in an F1 car.... I've been working hard at this all my life, I'm proud of what I've achieved and, whatever those people think, I have to put it to the back of my head and say 'it doesn't matter'.

I really hope I can get back into a Formula One car, and I'm trying hard to make it happen, just to reinforce the second day that I did at Vallelunga and prove myself again. However, I've got a really fantastic supporter in Kevin Kalkhoven as well, and I fly out to Sebring to test the Champ Car soon, which is the main thing for me to focus on, and look forward to, because it's a realistic opportunity for next year. Kevin is being so understanding, letting me get experience by driving all these other cars - I guess he's hoping I'll be a better driver when I drive for PKV at the end of the year!

I'm really looking forward to that, and my focus is very much on the Sebring run now. I look back to this time last year, when I was sitting at home thinking 'I'm never going to race again, what am I going to do', and then look at the opportunities I've had this year and I pinch myself and think what a lucky girl I am!. Now I'm just trying to work very hard, because it could so easily all come tumbling down around my ears. I just have to do my very best in every aspect of it - the fitness, the PR, the driving especially - so that I can build on the chances I have had this season.

I am happy to say that my fitness level was up to scratch for the Minardi test - but then I didn't have to do hundreds of laps or a race distance. If I had done that, I would probably have been dying at the end of the day. However, I really didn't have any twinges. The steering was very light, not heavy at all, but then I have been working on my shoulders, my arms and my chest a lot, partly because I think the Champ Car is going to be a lot heavier.

If anything, I could feel the back of my neck at the end of the day more than anything because, as everyone says, it is the brakes that stand out in an F1 car. In the Atlantic car, you've got big tunnels under the car and it's got quite a lot of downforce - it's faster at cornering than a Champ Car - so side-to-side motion is okay, but, when you get on the brakes in an F1 car for the first time, nobody can prepare you for the experience. The first time you brake, especially the first time you use carbon brakes, it's just incredible, really incredible.

Around the corners, the F1 car feels like a racing car - there's a lot of downforce and it is very technologically advanced, but the acceleration is obviously amazing as well, especially the first time you put your foot down. I guess I expected it to be a lot different to anything I had felt before because, obviously, it's got 900 horsepower when I'd only driven a 240-horsepower Atlantic car, but it really feels like you're being shot out of a rocket. The only way I can think of describing it is maybe to compare it to riding in a fighter jet when you've been used to a 747. It's just completely different, and it's awesome.

Whilst the acceleration and the braking take a bit of getting used to, you actually get used to the technology quicker than you might think - although obviously I had a bit of a mishap with the traction control! With all the driver aids, the hand clutch and so on - once you've done it, it's stored in your memory and you can concentrate on your driving. At the end of the day, the car has got four wheels and an engine and, while it's a racing car, I'm a firm believer that, if you can drive, you can drive anything.

Speaking of which, I've now been offered the chance to drive the second Team GB A1 Grand Prix car in Dubai next weekend, and I'm really looking forward to that because it's a country thing, just like representing your country in football.

Team GB are obviously a fantastic outfit, and they've got a very good driver already in Robbie Kerr, but it's just another opportunity to make myself a better driver by driving something else - and do my bit for Great Britain at the same time. Again, the A1 machine looks like an awesome car, and it can only give me more experience, so I'm looking forward to going to Dubai and doing that with Arden.

Since this time last year, I will have had the chance to driver a Formula One car, a Champ Car and an A1 Grand Prix car - and not many people can say that, can they? It will be really interesting to see how they all compare because, obviously, they're all top-line cars.

It's another great opportunity. Thanks to John Surtees.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Katherine