Liuzzi targets regular points finish

Although the team's predecessor Minardi have scored in only a handful of races in recent seasons, the Italian believes that Toro Rosso's decision to stick with a V10 could pay dividends with rivals likely to struggle with the reliability of their V8s at the start of the year.

"The objective? To gather as many points as possible," he said in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport. "I think there are the conditions to be in the top eight especially at the beginning, when we are able to count on the reliability of our V10, which already has a season under its belt."

Liuzzi believes that the Red Bull buy-out of Minardi has injected a fresh level of enthusiasm at the team.

"I know almost all the boys working at Faenza, because I drove their two-seater in the past," he added. "I've found a very motivated team, people with some unsettled business in F1 which they hope to put right, now or in 2007."

Technical director Gabriele Tredozi echoed Liuzzi's comments - claiming that his own motivation was higher than it had been for some time.

"We've always done our best with the means at our disposal, therefore I'm satisfied about what we have all achieved in the past," he explained. "But I can't deny that the idea of seeing one of our drivers on the podium has   been my obsession for the last 20 years, when each morning I look at myself in the mirror while shaving.

"We'll need more time, because in F1 you can't become competitive from one day to the next, but you can see the turning point. While before we had to perform miracles to be there at the start of the season, and our real objective was to get to the end of it, now we have stability, which allows us to work more serenely.

"Now it's up to us, by keep on giving the maximum as we have always done through the various ownerships at Minardi, bringing out the best."