Toro Rosso is not ready to take on F1’s grandee teams, its Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari has insisted.

Numerous figures and observers have singled out the Red Bull-owned team’s innovative STR6 car as a potential surprise podium contender this year.

"Yes, I’ve heard," 20-year-old Alguersuari told El Mundo newspaper.

"This one is the first Toro Rosso fully developed by the team without relying on Red Bull, because with last year’s car there were things in common with the previous one.

"The truth is that it is going well, I think better than last year, but we still don’t know the true potential. It seems fast, but we don’t know exactly where we are until Australia."

Asked if a Melbourne podium is possible, Alguersuari answered: "It would be a dream, but realistically our struggle is not with Ferrari, Red Bull, Mercedes or McLaren.

"We can’t compete with them either in budget or another way. The adversaries we need to overcome are Force India, Sauber, maybe Williams. That would be satisfying to us."

But Alguersuari’s biggest 2011 adversary is his teammate Sebastien Buemi, with one of them to possibly get the call to move up to Red Bull in 2012, while the other makes room for Daniel Ricciardo.

"Yes, I think I’m ahead of Buemi," insisted Alguersuari.

"He has a great talent and can do laps faster than me, but there are many things to put together: endurance, maturity, mental strength, rhythm ... and overall I think I’m ahead."