Jerome d’Ambrosio has admitted he is still working to get up to speed gainst his Virgin teammate.
2011 is the Belgian 25-year-old’s first season in formula one, and in the telling battle for grid position so far, the experienced German Timo Glock has been comfortably in charge.

“Clearly I still need to improve my Saturdays,” d’Ambrosio told La Libre newspaper.

Glock made his F1 debut with Jordan in 2004, but he also raced with the top-budget Toyota team in 2008 and 2009 before moving to the start-up Virgin last season.

“His experience is the most prominent on stop and go tracks like Valencia, or Canada where there is little grip and braking is therefore difficult.

“I still have more to understand to get the last tenths in those conditions. But I’m not ashamed to say he was simply stronger,” added d’Ambrosio.

He added: “What I’m thrilled about is that on race pace, I was consistently with his times.”

There have been reports that Virgin is preparing to abandon the 2011 project in order to be much stronger next year, but d’Ambrosio insists there are “many things” the team is doing to be stronger this season.

“We do not want to end up with the red lantern,” he said, referring to Virgin’s battle to avoid finishing the world championship in last place.

As drivers seemingly line up for his seat at Lotus, Jarno Trulli has been spotted in the US.

In recent days, rival drivers including Bruno Senna and Vitaly Petrov have been linked for 2011 with the Malaysian team, who are thought certain to renew Heikki Kovalainen’s contract.

At the same time it has emerged that, immediately after the Korean grand prix, 36-year-old Italian veteran Trulli travelled to Miami.

He reportedly met up with his old friend Juan Pablo Montoya, and they dined on Thursday night at the Italian restaurant Il Gabbiano.

Last year, when his future beyond the withdrawing Toyota team was uncertain, Trulli also visited America, testing a NASCAR and visiting the Sprint Cup race in Phoenix.

Referring to the late 2009 test with Michael Waltrip Racing, he said his performance had been “very strong” and “on the pace of the best ones”.

HRT owner Jose Ramon Carabante has confirmed that the struggling Spanish team is set to collaborate with Toyota.

Team boss Colin Kolles admitted at Hockenheim that working with Toyota Motorsport, the Japanese marque’s former F1 arm based in Cologne, is a “good option” for Hispania.

Driver Bruno Senna, however, indicated that agreements are not yet signed.

But reports suggest HRT, whose partnership with 2010 car builder Dallara has been terminated, will use Toyota’s headquarters and wind tunnel, staff and the designs of its unraced TF110 car.

Carabante has now confirmed the deal by playing down fears in Spain that HRT will no longer be based in Murcia, the autonomous region that is also a sponsor of the team.

In a report by the Spanish news agency EFE, Carabante said that notwithstanding the arrangement with Toyota, the team will remain in Murcia “because the project was born here”.

The report said the deal is worth EUR15 million, with Carabante insisting it “will strengthen Hispania in the battle to be the best of the new teams, which is our first goal”.

EFE said HRT’s technical contract with Toyota Motorsport will be for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.