Q & A with Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso: I don't know. Let's hope so. It is nothing new that Ferrari are stronger than everyone else at the start of the season and it is not a surprise for anybody that they come here as favourites again and are ready to win. What we have to do is close the gap. We don't know how much it will be in this race, but we saw in Australia that it was seven or eight tenths.

For sure we did one week testing here, we did some developments on the car and improved the car but for sure everybody did the same. Hopefully the gap is less, but for sure there are no surprises for this Grand Prix. We will see a similar picture to Australia, with Ferrari in front of everybody.

Q. Are McLaren confident that the flexi-floor rule changes will move them closer to Ferrari?

FA: Well, we will see. I think the rules are the same for everybody so hopefully if this floor issue is fixed, and it is the same rule for everybody, then it can be a help for us. Maybe they had some advantage there, but I don't think it will be a change like day and night. I don't know if they will lose performance but if they do then I think it will not be a significant performance loss that we can win the races now.

Q. In 2003 you got your first pole position here. What do you remember about that?

FA: It was very good. It was the first pole position of my career, the second race for Renault after one year with Minardi. I have great memories always here, always good races here, and Renault has been always competitive here as well. That helped not just me but my teammates at Renault were always quick here. So I love the circuit, for me it is one of the best with Spa. Hopefully everything keeps going well here in Sepang.

Q. What do you remember about the start of that race?

FA: It was quite hot. I was a little bit nervous at that time as it was my first pole position, I was starting in front of everybody and wanted to keep my pole position into the first corner and lead my first Grand Prix at that time. So a lot of things happened in a short time and, as I said, hopefully we can do the same this weekend. We want to get close to pole position and leading the race again.

Q. Is it time for you to impose yourself on your teammate this weekend?

FA: Well, I don't know. I think we will see. There is plenty of time, there are 17 races and the important thing is the final result. And especially with my teammate I am not competing. We are in the same group, we are in the same car and we try to beat the others, as we did in Australia.

We try to compete as a team, try to for sure have a battle between us because at the end of the day we are competitive persons but what is good is that McLaren are leading the Constructors' Championship after good teamwork in Australia. Hopefully we can fight here again and score points for us and the team as well.

Q. Over the winter you changed teams and changed tyres. How much has your driving style had to change?

FA: A lot. Not only for me, everybody has to accommodate a little bit for the tyres. That goes for the team, the engineers, how they set up the car is quite different. And for the drivers it has to be a little bit different, maybe smoother on the entry to the corner, and for me it was probably a bigger change than for the other drivers. But I think I did a lot of tests in the winter so I should be already 100 percent now.

Q. You said that Ferrari may have an advantage here, so what if the focus for McLaren at the moment to close the gap?

FA: I don't know. I think that is the key question and the answer as well. We need to try and develop the car, we need to get used to the Bridgestone tyres especially and that is the most important thing. To be honest it is not a surprise that Ferrari are ahead of us at the beginning of the 2007 championship.

For McLaren have had a big change after a bad season in 2006, a lot of things changed in the winter, we had a completely new car with new designs, a new engine basically, new tyres, two new drivers - a lot of things. It is a new team, and I think it is quite normal and quite obvious that we cannot be 100 percent like Ferrari who had continuity as a team.

We start the season really, really competitive so let's keep our fingers crossed and hopefully with some developments we can be close to them. It is not a surprise we are a little bit behind, it is more or less what we expected.

Q. When would you expect to have closed that gap to Ferrari?

FA: I don't know. That is a difficult answer. F1 teams now develop the car very, very quickly and if you are lucky and you find something that the others have found yet, then you have an advantage immediately. That is what we are doing now.

Working as hard as we can and maybe next week we have a fantastic result with something, or maybe in two months, who knows, but I think everybody is trying to do the same. But I think McLaren have the potential to do is quicker.

Q. You skipped the test here last week. What are your expecting from this weekend?

FA: We will see. I think the test went quite well here, with unfortunately some wet time on the track so we lost a little bit of test items. But I was in England, working with the team a little bit and with the simulator testing some new things that they put in the track also in the week they tested here.

So I think we improved the car a little bit. How much? I don't know, but hopefully it will be enough to be on the podium again. That is I think a more realistic target for this weekend - to be on the podium again and to keep scoring points that will be very important for the championship at the end of the season.

Q. How will you react if Lewis Hamilton beats you this season?

FA: Well after 17 races if this happens then I can answer you...

Q. In Valencia at the car launch you talked about a new enthusiasm for the sport. Is that still there, or are you feeling the pressure more now that the races are coming up?

FA: No, I feel the same. I enjoy every day in this 2007 championship. For sure I want to be in the car every day and I have a high motivation. This three weeks between Melbourne and here seems very, very long here and now. And last year it was maybe too short because you are tired to be in car so much.

Q. There is the chance of a wet race here. Will it be better for you?

FA: I don't know. In wet conditions to be honest we didn't test enough during the winter and I think we don't know how competitive any other team is in wet conditions, so it will be a bit of a surprise for everybody. It is difficult to see the potential of the teams, but here even if it rains it will not stay wet all the race.

It will dry quite quickly, it will be a difficult race changing tyres four or five times depending on the conditions. In that mess anyone can take an advantage, so it is up to us to be clever enough to take that advantage. So maybe it will be better for us.

Q. Many people were surprised that a two-time world champion was fighting so hard with a rookie teammate. Was it a surprise for you?

FA: No. Well, we keep testing all winter and we knew that Lewis was competitive enough to be in the top positions in Melbourne and I think it was not a surprise.

Q. What is the likelihood of him winning a race this year?

FA: It can happen, yeah for sure. But it is difficult because there is Ferrari, BMW and McLaren. You need to have the combination of everything right to win a race. You need to do a good Friday, choosing the right tyre, do a perfect qualifying and start at the front, a perfect race, perfect pitstops, and you need luck.

Many things can happen in the race. But for sure the potential is there, and if everything goes right then why not?