Speed committed to staying in F1

The American's deal to continue at the Red Bull-owned team was only confirmed a few weeks ago, as the team stalled on finalising the new contract until after the launch of the new car.

Team owner Gerhard Berger said at the time that he was unsure about whether Speed was committed enough to being an F1 driver.

"I believe that with his natural talent he can do a reasonable job," Berger told autosport.com. "But he is not at a talent stage where he doesn't need to work.

"He needs also to bring a commitment. If he has this, and he shows this, no problem."

But Speed, who appeared at a publicity shoot with Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee at Albert Park on Wednesday, said he did not know why Berger had questioned his attitude.

"I think you would have to ask Gerhard about that," said Speed. "As far as my commitments are concerned, over the whole winter off-season I had I spent just one week with my family in California. I hadn't seen them all year so went there for Christmas.

"And the rest of the time I spent in Arizona training, because that is where I had the best training opportunities. I think that should answer everyone's commitment questions."

Despite Berger's comments, Speed said there was no tension in the relationship between himself and his boss.

"I think we all have the same goal right now," he said. "We all want to win races and we all want to move forwards. We are all pushing in the same direction."

Speed insisted he was never worried about losing the seat, despite speculation over the winter suggesting the team were evaluating a host of other drivers including Robert Doornbos and Tiago Monteiro.

When asked by autosport.com about whether he was concerned about not getting the drive, Speed said: "No. You can't be. Any stress that you add onto yourself is only negative, so I was always pretty sure I was going to drive. I just kept my head down, did the training I needed to do in the off season and here we are in Melbourne."

Speed said he was expecting a difficult start to the year for Toro Rosso, but hoped that the development programme planned for the STR2 would lead to big improvements by the start of the European season.

"I am optimistic heading into the year because I think it is going to be a great year for us," he said. "But the beginning of the year will be quite tough for our team and we still have quite a bit to learn. I think that out of everyone here we are the ones who will progress the quickest at the beginning of the year - from race to race four for us is going to be a big jump."