Alonso - Renault 'best of the rest'

Double World Champion says only McLaren and Ferrari now better

Last updated: 11th October 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Alonso - Renault 'best of the rest'

Alonso: Much improved

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Fernando Alonso is confident that Renault are now 'best of the rest' following his qualifying performance at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The double World Champion underlined the Regie's recent gains, emphasised by his victory in the Singapore Grand Prix two weeks ago, by qualifying fourth at the Fuji Speedway.

And although Alonso said his R28 car is not as well-suited to Fuji as it was to the city-state's new street circuit, he did claim the chassis was much improved compared to earlier in the season.

"Obviously in Singapore we were a little bit more competitive, and I think here we get back to reality and are struggling a little bit more, but the car is better and better every race," he said.

"At a circuit like this, three or four months ago, it would have been a big, big problem for us - and we would have been nowhere. Now we can have a competitive time in any circuit, in any condition.

"The team did a very good job and the result is this. Maybe now we are just behind Ferrari and McLaren in the last three Grands Prix."

BMW Sauber, who have hitherto been the closest challengers to McLaren and Ferrari this season, saw their drivers Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld respectively qualify sixth and 16th in Japan.

Problems

After Singapore, Renault technical director Bob Bell said the team had finally recovered from the problems they suffered after switching to Bridgestone tyres last year.

The team's efforts in doing so were praised by Alonso, who has yet to commit to the team for the 2009 season.

"We thought to be at this level in Australia (the first race of the season), just behind Ferrari and McLaren, but we found ourselves too far behind, in the middle of the pack," he said.

"We try to analyse our problems and we worked hard to get the key points of the car to make the progress during the season.

"We concentrated on those areas and the car did improve every race, and now we seem more competitive. Unfortunately there are only three races to go."

Renault currently stand fourth in the Constructors' Championship, five points ahead of Toyota.