Toyota duo play down expectations

The Cologne-based team were the first to launch their 2006 car, with it running at the end of last November, but have not shown the kind of pace needed to join the expected fight for victory between Renault, Honda, McLaren and Ferrari.

Both the team's drivers claim, however, that it is too early to judge exactly how competitive the TF106 is - and believe it may take several races before a true picture of form emerges.

Schumacher said: "We will have to wait and see how the first couple of races go before we can truly compare our position to the others. But we hope to take some points in the first few races and take it from there.

"Our whole winter test programme has been targeting reliability and that is what we will need early in the season. We've been working with the TF106 since November so we've had plenty of time to put mileage on all the mechanical parts."

Trulli, who finished second in Bahrain for Toyota last year, added: "It would be wonderful to achieve something similar again, so that is why everyone at Toyota has worked all winter to be as prepared as possible for this first Grand Prix of the year.

"I'm confident that the TF106 can deliver strong results, but as ever we will only find out when we get on track with everyone this weekend."