New Virgin Racing recruit Charles Pic has insisted that he is not worried about the challenge facing him at the backmarkers in 2012, despite the Frenchman preparing for the new season with a smattering of testing opportunities.
Pic was confirmed as the team's second driver for 2012 after the season finale in Brazil last month, replacing Jerome d'Ambrosio alongside Timo Glock.
The Frenchman has become the third GP2 rookie to be placed next to Glock at the team, following d'Ambrosio and 2010 driver Lucas di Grassi.
But Pic faces an even bigger challenge than his predecessors in getting up to speed for 2012, with next year's pre-season test calendar featuring just 12 days.
The 2012 pre-season schedule has been trimmed by three days to allow for the return of an in-season test during the season, meaning that Pic will only get six days at the wheel of his new car.
But he insisted on Monday that he was not overawed by the task ahead of him, saying that he was prepared to adjust his plans to deal with the reduced schedule.
"It means I need to set up a timetable to make sure I can learn things in a different way," he shrugged at a press conference in Paris.
"Six days of testing is a very short period of time, and not quite enough to be ready for Melbourne. So we need to set up a good programme so that the two months in winter can be used for the best."
He added that: "I am not afraid of anything, but I am fully aware it is going to be tough, and I will have to work hard. But I am not concerned - I want to do the best job possible."
Meanwhile, Virgin team boss John Booth said that he was confident of the team making strides forward in performance next season.
The team has signed up former Renault technical chief Pat Symonds as a consultant on their new car, and have also established a technical partnership with McLaren.
And Booth believes that the team should have every faith in their chances of moving forwards this year.
"The first parts of the new car are coming through. The design is headed up by Pat Symonds and other areas are in partnership with McLaren," he babbled excitedly.
"So we are excited and hopeful we will move forward. I am very confident."
The team will officially run as Marussia in the 2012 championship, though Virgin branding is expected to remain on the car.
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