Kamui Kobayashi has hailed the "chance and circumstances" that landed him a bit part at Toyota last season, which ultimately resulted in a full-time drive with Sauber.
Despite a rather dismal campaign in the GP2 series, Kobayashi was called up to replace the injured Timo Glock at Toyota for the final two grands prix of the 2009 season.
The Japanese driver seized the opportunity with both hands, even finishing in the points in his second race, beating his vastly experienced team-mate Jarno Trulli.
However, Toyota's exit from F1 left Kobayashi without a race-seat, although that didn't last long as Sauber's acceptance into this year's Championship was followed by the announcement that Kobayashi had secured one of their two race-seats.
"After these two races (Brazil and Abu Dhabi) everything changed and I knew that if I got a chance and worked hard, Formula One would be within reach," he told the official F1 website.
"I prepared myself because if a chance comes along you have to be ready. But looking back, it is difficult to say what I really expected would happen. Sometimes chance and circumstances decide your future.
"We (himself and Sauber) started negotiating after Abu Dhabi, but the problem was that the team didn't have an entry at that time so Peter told me to be patient and wait.
"Once the team had its entry confirmed, we finalised the negotiations and signed the contract. I was thinking that I was very lucky, but Peter didn't say anything like that, so I know what is expected from me - to be professional and work very hard."
Kobayashi put his 2010 challenger, the Sauber C29, through its paces at Valencia on Wednesday, declaring himself happy with his first outing. But asked whether the C29 suits his style as last year's Toyota did, he said it's impossible to compare the two car.
"I have a good feeling, although it is hard to compare it and point out significant differences, because we are speaking here about two totally different car concepts," he said.
"Now we have narrow front tyres, a big tank and a lot of fuel. My experience is not great enough to really make a statement on it at this at time."
As for his goals for 2010: "Obviously we need to score points for the team. Everything else is dreams for the future."
