Q & A with Jarno Trulli

His Toyota team have clearly made good progress during the winter, and the Italian veteran is confident that 2008 will be a much stronger season for them.

Autosport.com heard from Trulli in Spain, as he reflected on Toyota's prospects for the new year and the performance of the TF108 so far.

Q. How happy are you with the final test at Barcelona?

Jarno Trulli: I am very happy with how the team has worked. It is good because we have finally found a new direction. The TF108 is a completely different car. I said at the first test that it was clearly a different animal [from last year's car]. Last year straightaway I knew we had a huge problem, but this year I am much more confident.

I am still cautious, but I must say the team understands this car more and we have gone in a direction that we understand much better. It's a shame that there are some things that showed good performance internally but then didn't translate well to the track but still it has been a good step forward.

The aero package is working well but we expected it to be slightly better. So I think we are very close to being at the top if you forget about Ferrari and McLaren, because they are really very strong. But we are very close to the rest.

Q. So you are in that tight group behind Ferrari and McLaren?

JT: Yes we are in that group and it won't take much to be at the top of it. This is my feeling. I think that things are slowly getting better. Frank Dernie has given the team good input, especially with his experience. This guy has huge experience. He is someone who has the racing spirit and can give the team and its people a lot of good direction.

We have to be honest and say that most of the people at Toyota are young and trying hard, but one person with this experience can take you in the right the direction. Also the team is listening to me a bit more and you can see the results. But it is still too early to say. I am happy with the way things are going and I'm confident. I believe that we can be a surprise this year.

Q. What is Frank Dernie's role in the team?

JT: He is a consultant on several things. From my point of view he is helping us quite a lot. It is very good to talk with him. I spend a lot of time talking with him because while he is very talkative, it is good to listen to him because of his experience. He does say very interesting things and that is important for a driver.

Q. Has he been present more often than you expected?

JT: At the moment he has only come to a few tests so far and he has contributed quite a lot on the car in many areas. But he has also helped shape the way the team works on the car and their understanding of it.

Q. Do you think his input can be useful over a race weekend?

JT: Very much so. When you have an experienced person like him there are always plusses and there are never minuses.

Q. It looked as though you had a breakthrough in Bahrain, is that when Toyota made a step forward with the new car?

JT: When I came back from Bahrain I already had a good idea. When you compare yourself against Ferrari, you are obviously comparing yourself with the best and at the moment they are flying! So it wasn't an easy comparison, but still it was positive from my point of view.

We have confirmed it here [at Barcelona] because we had an evolution of the car in terms of the aero package. We are also learning more about this car every day. We are moving forward.

The good thing about this car is that you have a wider range to work with and it has fewer problems than last year's car. It is much more stable and it has a much better base line, so you can work on it and you can find a way around the problems and sometimes even solve them and get the car the way you want.

Q. So you have many more options on set-up?

JT: Much, much more than last year. It is a completely new world and a completely new way of working. It's like a real racing car. You change things and you can feel the difference. If we make very, very tiny changes, even by mistake, I can feel it straightaway. This is a very good feeling for me and the team. Today's results, not just the lap time, is a big boost for everybody at Toyota.

Q. Was your fastest laptime on the limit or was there more to come from the car?

JT: It was one lap only. It was a good time but I want to underline that I feel much more comfortable on longer runs than a single lap. I am more competitive on the longer runs.

Q. You said before that you needed to find more time for one-lap pace. Do you still feel that way?

JT: I still feel that I cannot get the best out of the car on a single lap. The way the car is and its behaviour doesn't really allow me to attack as I would like. I am still on the defensive a little bit over a single lap, but on the long runs, from what I have seen and also from a feeling point of view I am very, very comfortable.

Q. But you are renowned for your one-lap pace anyway so when you get it right can we expect the Toyota to fly?

JT: I would say that we still have a lot of issues to solve, and we have to solve them anyway, because in a way there is always room for improvement. Even if you go one second quicker you can always find a way to improve your car, but there are some issues that we need to solve in order to get the best out the car over a single lap.

Q. Is that about getting heat into the new tyres quickly enough?

JT: Yes, there are a few things which need to be understood and need to be solved.

Q. In terms of reliability, is the car okay?

JT: Unfortunately we might have a problem with the gearbox because today we lost our second one in a row.

Q. Was it the same fault?

JT: Yes it was the same but it was something that we have never had before. It might be related to a manufacturing problem so we need to analyse, understand and then react to it.

Q. The gearbox problem could become an issue with the new regulations requiring it to last four races this year couldn't it?

JT: Yes but to be honest last year we would have preferred to have had a quicker car that stopped sometimes than run around reliably at the back while not having the chance to fight.

Q. Of all the last three months, with the all the new things you have had to re-learn with such as life without traction control and assisted rear-braking, what is the most difficult thing you have had to adjust to?

JT: To drive last year's car was the most difficult thing! Everything this year is a lot easier. I don't care about losing traction control, I don't care about losing engine braking. This year the car is completely different and we can overcome these problems easily whereas with last year's car we were just stuck in a corner.

Q. So are you optimistic for Melbourne?

JT: I am moderately optimistic. I am sure we can raise some eyebrows this year and cause problems for some teams. We can be competitive. Forget Ferrari and McLaren for the moment, they are a couple of steps ahead, but the rest are within reach.