Vitantonio Liuzzi remains focused on staying in Formula One next season despite losing his Toro Rosso drive.
Ex-Toro Rosso star unsure about future
Vitantonio Liuzzi remains focused on staying in Formula One next season, despite losing his Toro Rosso drive.
After spending the past two seasons racing for the Red Bull-backed team, Liuzzi finds himself without a drive next season after the team opted to replace him with Champ Car star Sebastien Bourdias.
The decision to drop the Italian came near the end of a season which found Toro Rosso dogged by both reliability problems and a lack of pace.
STR also suffered plenty of strife within its ranks, with Liuzzi's team-mate Scott Speed being replaced mid-season by Sebastian Vettel after falling out with the team's management.
Improvement
However, the team and Liuzzi's fortunes did improve during the latter part of the season - ironically after the 27-year-old was told he would not be racing for them in 2008.
"My second season with Scuderia Toro Rosso has been a tough one with a lot of reliability problems, especially in the mid season. But towards the end of the year, the reliability improved and I was able to remind people of my abilities," Liuzzi told the official F1 website.
"The last three races brought conflicting feelings as I had a strong race in Japan to pick up a point for eighth, which looked like being the team's first of the year, but then we lost it in the courts.
"Then just a few days later came the Chinese GP and my best-ever result, a sixth place. I was so happy to be able to do this, not just for myself but for all the guys in the garage and the factory who have worked so hard with me for the past two years.
"We were a good fit - me an Italian driver and them an Italian team, but sadly that is over now."
The Italian is still without a 2008 race-seat, however, and although he hopes to stay in F1, he concedes that may not happen.
"As we speak I don't know where my future lies, but I hope it is in F1, if only because it would be nice to see all my Toro Rosso crew again next year," he added.
