Alguersuari boosted by new STR deal
Jamie Alguersuari says his confidence has been boosted after securing a deal to stay at the Toro Rosso team next year
The Faenza-based squad announced last week that both Alguersuari and team-mate Sebastien Buemi would be retained in 2011.
The deal means the Spanish driver will stay on with Toro Rosso for a third season, although he suggested things could change until the end of the year.
"I think it's a good motivation thing," Alguersuari told AUTOSPORT ahead of the German Grand Prix. "It's good for the confidence, but there's 10 races to go so a lot of things can happen from there until the end of the season, in the good or in the bad side.
"I'm happy that there is a team interested in me for next year, which is Toro Rosso and the Red Bull family, and this is always good for me, because I've always worked very close with Red Bull since I was 15 years old.
"But as I said there are still 10 races to go and a lot of things can happen."
The 20-year-old, who made his F1 debut with the team in the latter part of last season, is hoping last year's experience will help him perform better in the upcoming races on circuits he knows.
"I'm still getting up to speed especially when I go to new tracks," he said. "I expect a lot from the second half of the season because I know the tracks from last year, and it will be the time to show where I can be.
"I expect a lot from the team because it's been four races we haven't had any upgrades, and I expect a lot also from my side, especially to be consistently in the points at the end of the year."
Alguersuari also said Toro Rosso must stay realistic about its prospects given the resources it has compared to other teams.
"I think we have a really competitive car. I think we have a really good car," he added. "The problem is that the other teams develop more than us. We have to be realistic. Williams and Force India are better teams than us. They progressed better than us, they developed the car better than us and that's the reality for the moment.
"We have a really good car. The problem is that the development is a bit slow because we don't have the structures the other teams have. We need to be realistic and know that it's getting better towards the end of the year, and it will be a much better car, I'm convinced."
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