Liuzzi fears difficult weekend

Liuzzi, who has scored the team's only point so far this year, finished four seconds off the pace in this afternoon's free practice session, although he admitted he was pretty pleased with his car's handling.

"A so-so day," said Liuzzi. "In the first session, everything was fine, even though I did not do many laps. In the second hour we worked on finding the right trim for the car for a long distance run.

"The car did not feel too bad, but the conditions were difficult because of the rain that came and went during the session. It could be a tough weekend."

Liuzzi was the slowest of the Toro Rosso drivers, behind Neel Jani, 20th, and Scott Speed, the American finishing in 19th position in his first run in an F1 car at the Shanghai circuit.

"I drove this track two years ago in Formula Renault, but honestly today felt like my first time here as I don't remember anything and of course it's very different in an F1 car," he said.

"But the track is not so hard to learn. I'm not sure if I would describe it as fun to drive, but it's definitely interesting and very understeery.

"Getting through the usual Friday programme was tricky today, trying to get enough running in the dry in order to be able to analyse everything properly. But I think we are on the right track."