Liuzzi downbeat after 'negative' start

Liuzzi was slowest in the afternoon session after damaging his Ferrari-powered car in a spin.

The Italian managed just 16 laps and finished over four seconds off the pace.

"Quite a negative beginning," admitted Liuzzi. "We had a few problems with the car, as it was very unstable at the rear. We did not really reach an understanding of what was causing it.

"Then I had a spin and damaged the rear wing and underside of the car, so I had to stop before the end of the session.

"That was a shame, because at the moment we really need to do as many kilometers as possible. Hopefully we can do more laps tomorrow."

Teammate Scott Speed was also left lamenting their lack of running before the first Grand Prix of the season, the American posting the 19th fastest time of the day.

Speed believes, however, there is room for improvement.

"As expected we are quite far behind at the moment as we learn about a lot of things that we should have done in testing," Speed said. "Lots of stuff on the car is brand new for today and so inevitably some of it didn't work.

"The one positive element is that it is clear that we will be able to develop this package through the season and can do something with it.

"It's going to be a tough time until we get some more testing under our belt, as we seem to be quite a way off the pace, unless some of those ahead of us were on low fuel loads."