Russia's first Formula One driver Vitaly Petrov admits he has so much to learn before and during his debut season.
25-year-old Petrov was yesterday named as Renault's second driver behind Robert Kubica.
After starting his racing career 8 years ago in the Russian Lada Cup, Petrov's father has financed his career and he is believed to be taking more than 20 million dollars in backing to Renault, who lost all of their major backers at the end of last season.
Petrov says he knows he has to learn how to get the best performance from his car before he'll be able to compete at best.
The last Russian driver involved in Formula One was Roman Rusinov, who was named as one of four testers for the Midland team in 2006 but never raced.
Petrov's appointment will be a boost for the sport in a country that is one of Europe's biggest car markets and hopes to host a grand prix in the near future.
Renault has a stake in Russia's biggest carmaker AvtoVAZ, makers of the Lada brand.
