Liuzzi encouraged by Toro Rosso pace

Despite being handicapped by a lack of top speed as a result of using the restricted V10 engine, Liuzzi posted the eighth quickest time of the day.

The Italian, driving at the Montreal circuit for the first time, believes there is still more time to find in the car.

"The track was very dirty so I just did a few laps to get a feel for the car," said the Italian. "We made some changes for the second session and I think we moved forward in the right direction all the time. I am learning the track quite quickly but I think that tomorrow I can still improve and get more out of the car.

"We seem quite competitive and the car was very good even though we will struggle for top speed here with the V10."

American teammate Scott Speed was also upbeat about the team's form after posting the 20th quickest time.

"We had a good test session in Monza and we thought we might be able to do something good here and I think we could be surprisingly competitive," said Speed. "We are not worried about brakes: with the reduction in power I think it's less of an issue than it used to be.

"The balance of the car is pretty good. This track is about the trade-off between top speed and stability. The car is lively here and sliding, and you have to ride the kerbs and our car seems to be doing all that quite well right now."