Alguersuari: “The podium is not a realistic goal for Toro Rosso”

Toro Rosso is not yet ready to get on the podium according to Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari. For many experts, the car of the second Red Bull team, the STR6, could be a potential surprise for the podium this year.

“Yes, I heard it,” Alguersuari told El Mundo.

“This is the first Toro Rosso car developed entirely by the team without the support of Red Bull, because last year's car had several things in common with the previous one. The truth is that it's going well, I think better than last year, but we don't know the true potential yet. The car seems fast but we won't know exactly where we are until Australia."

To those who asked him if a podium in Melbourne would be possible, Alguersuari replied: “It would be a dream, but realistically we are not at the level of Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes or McLaren. We can't compete with their budgets or otherwise. The opponents to overcome are Force India, Sauber and perhaps Williams. This would be satisfactory for us."

But Alguersuari's biggest opponent for 2011 will be his teammate Sebastien Buemi, one of them could move to Red Bull in 2012 while the other may have to make way for Daniel Ricciardo.

“Yes, I think I'm ahead of Buemi” reiterated Alguersuari. "He has great talent and can do faster laps than me, but there are things to evaluate: duration, maturity, concentration, pace... and in general I think I'm ahead."