Liuzzi laments lack of top speed

With Toro Rosso's V10 engine being forced to run limited, the team are especially hindered at tracks like Barcelona, with its long straight.

Liuzzi, who qualified in 16th position, said the poor straightline speed meant he had to push very hard in the other parts of the track.

"We have to realize this is our position and to do a better time would mean taking a shortcut on the track," said Liuzzi. "We suffer a bit from a lack of straight line speed but overall, we did a good qualifying and at least I reached the second part of the session.

"Because we lacked speed on the straight I had to go to the limit, pushing more on the corners. The car handled really well and I think, if we get through the first lap without an accident, we can have a strong race, especially as Michelin has done a good job and given us a consistent tyre, even though this is one of the toughest circuits for tyres."

Teammate Scott Speed was 17th quickest, the American claiming he had sacrified qualifying pace for a better race tomorrow.

"Of course I'd prefer to make it into the next part of the session, but this is pretty much where I expected to qualify anyway," he said.

"I'm not disappointed because we took the definite decision to have the car set up more to have a good race pace for tomorrow rather than for today's qualifying. I think this will pay off and we should have a strong race pace and I have confidence in our tyre choice.