Liuzzi upbeat about STR2 potential

The Adrian Newey-designed car, at the centre of controversy due to its similarities with Red Bull's RB3, has been one of the last 2007 cars to be unveiled, with Toro Rosso having missed three winter tests.

Despite that, Liuzzi says he can already feel the potential of the car, and reckons it is a step forward compared to last year's STR1.

"There's still a quarter of the car missing, but you could already see in Barcelona there is a potential which you couldn't find with the Toro Rosso (STR1)," the Italian told Autosprint magazine.

"Several times you feel it responding better, you feel there's room to face the quick bends and some turn entries under braking in a way you couldn't do before.

"You can feel it in the way the car responds, even though you might then lose it in the middle of the curve, with half the aerodynamics still missing.

"We aren't yet going at full revs, but I can feel a good response from the engine and the vibrations are limited. It's undoubtedly a good engine.

"The tyres? It's still too early to say whether the behaviour is better with this car. At the moment we still have plenty of new things to introduce. The gearbox at the moment seems like the one on a Smart: it takes a lifetime to change gears, but that's because we need to get all the electronics working.

"Compared to the STR1, this car has to be driven in a completely different way," he added. "You can already see it reacting to set up changes. We tried fitting it with stiff and soft roll bars, and it's a completely different world.

"The STR1 would just go its own way. It was like being a passenger inside the cockpit. During the year we tried to turn it around completely, but nothing would happen."

Liuzzi, who has just renewed his contract with Toro Rosso, is hoping the Italian outfit won't run a third driver in 2007, as he needs as much running as possible.

"I don't know what we'll do on Grand Prix Fridays, whether we'll have a third driver, but I don't think we will. For sure there won't be Neel Jani anymore," Liuzzi said.

"In my opinion it's better that way: we need to drive ourselves; we've already lost three winter test sessions, a full month compared to the others. A disaster."

The team are working from today at the Bahrain circuit, on the first of six days of work in preparation for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.