Trulli says podiums a realistic target

With the team having high hopes about the steps they have made with their new TF108, Trulli is equally bullish that the Japanese manufacturer can enjoy a big step forward in pace in 2008.

"Finishing on the podium is always possible and realistic," said Trulli. "Obviously we have to be careful and not be unrealistic - Formula One is a very hard sport so we cannot expect to suddenly be right at the top.

"We have to be modest and say that we have some work to do to catch up with the very top teams but I think we can bounce back and score points regularly if we do a good job over the winter time. This means we can expect to fight for podiums sometimes."

When asked whether he felt he believed Toyota had the potential to succeed he said: "I am sure of that. It is a very dedicated team with some very good people and we have a lot of potential.

"We know we still have a lot of work to do to achieve our aims but there is certainly the potential within this team to be successful in Formula One. I am optimistic for the future."

Trulli says his optimism for the new year is based on the fact that he believes Toyota have learned their lessons from the troubles of last season.

"You are always learning in life and in Formula One," he said. "Last season was difficult for us but we understand there are areas we must improve. Sometimes last season our pace was quite good but we were unable to get the results we were capable of so this is a major factor to improve.

"There were many small things which cost us positions, for example the problems I had a few times at the start of a race. But when you learn something, you can only improve afterwards so I hope we can avoid similar problems next year."