Liuzzi: a race to forget

The Toro Rosso driver's race started poorly after he was forced to pit at the end of the first lap, having made contact with another car and damaged his front wing.

Liuzzi struggled for pace during the remaining part of the race and eventually finished down in 11th position, two laps down.

"It was a real pity that I had a tangle with another car on the first lap and had to lose time pitting for a new nose," said Liuzzi.

"Apart from that, the car was difficult to drive all through the race, as I was not happy with my brakes or the balance of the car, which meant I kept locking the inside front wheel, which was too light. I could not keep up a good pace and I also seemed to luck out with a load of blue flags.

"It's been a race to forget so I'm already thinking about Melbourne."

His teammate Scott Speed was enjoying a better race, but the American retired on lap 42 when he was hit by a clutch failure.

"It's too bad that I did not finish the race because this was the track where we expected to struggle the most," he said. "We were overgripped aerodynamically, but me and my engineer got the set-up about right in the end.

"After a poor qualifying, we ended up doing a good job, showing decent pace and having a good track position. It's a shame, but I think we can come back stronger in Melbourne, as this place was never going to suit us."

Team boss Franz Tost said the team will need to raise their game if they want to finish in the top 12 in the next races.

"What we can learn from this weekend is that if the works teams sort out their problems, we will struggle to finish in the top twelve," he said. "Williams also look extremely competitive, so it will be very difficult to pick up points this season.

"We have to up our game, do a really good job especially in qualifying, because if we get into the top ten on the grid, we might bring home some points."