Liuzzi says beating Team Lotus would make for a 'perfect' season for HRT

But the Italian is under no illusions about how difficult the task will be given the performance gap to its rivals.

Both Lotus and HRT have 13th places as their best results of the season, but the former is ahead in the standings because it has achieved the result twice.

"We would love to be ahead of Team Lotus but it is not an easy target, especially if you look at where we started in Australia," said Liuzzi.

"But we are on the same points and have half a season to improve and try and achieve a better position in the constructors' championship. We are following the right path and are in the right place."

Liuzzi says, however, that HRT can consider the season a success already.

He added: "I already consider it a successful season but if we could achieve our biggest target of finishing 10th in the Constructors' Championship, then that would be perfect.

"But we have to be realistic and continue pushing to show that we are competitive. We have to improve our pace compared to the leaders from now until the end of the season.

"It has been challenging but we have made good progress since Australia. The steps taken and reliability have been good and we managed to overtake Virgin in the Championship. The development slowed down a little with the changes in ownership but now we are a consistent structure and we are looking strong for the future."

The Italian driver says he never doubted about the potential of the team, and reckons the future is looking good for the Spanish squad.

"A lot of people didn't believe we would come through at the beginning of the year but I have always been really positive. As I have said on many occasions, there are good people involved in this project and the potential is there. If we work in the right direction, I'm sure we can achieve good things.

"I never doubted that there was potential for improvement, obviously we are not expecting to win races but to be where we are already is proof of the strength of the project. If you believe in yourself and in the project then you can achieve anything."