Heikki Kovalainen has played down suggestions that his huge testing crash at Bahrain recently will change his approach to his debut race in Australia this Sunday.
The Finn, who has replaced world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault, admits to losing control of his R27 at nearly 245kmh.
A bout of dizziness aside, he was unhurt.
Former triple world champion Niki Lauda observed this week that getting your first major shunt out of the way is an important psychological hurdle for any new grand prix ace.
But Kovalainen, 25, said in a column for BBC: “These things happen. Sometimes you crash and sometimes you don’t.
“I don’t feel I’m any different after the crash. I’ve experienced crashes in smaller formula cars before and this was nothing special for me.”
