Renault trust Alonso will stay on

The French car manufacturer ended their two-year victory drought in Singapore when Alonso made the most of a well-timed safety car period to triumph in F1's first night race.

And although Alonso says he is still weighing up his options for 2009, with BMW Sauber and Honda Racing both interested in his services, Bell thinks that Renault have now done enough to erase any doubts Alonso may have about their ultimate potential.

"I am sure, to be perfectly honest, he (Alonso) would probably rather be sitting in a Ferrari or McLaren and, in the back of the mind, feels that for next year," Bell told autosport.com.

"But I think we have gone not just to a lot of effort on the track to prove to him that this team is on the way back up again, but also with our facilities in the factory, and what we are doing, how we are organised, to show him this team are serious about winning.

"We are not in this to make up the midfield - and I hope we have done enough to convince him to stay with us. I think we have. But I don't know."

Bell believes that the progress the team have made with the R28 this year is evidence that they are on course to return as genuine front-runners in 2009.

"I think if you just look at the simple numbers - say the Q2 gap between our quickest driver and the quickest guy in Q2, we've gone from more than a second lap in Melbourne down to, we didn't get in here, but prior to this race it was down to four tenths," said Bell.

"So we made a nice steady progress, which is what we have been aiming to do all year. And we still stick by our objectives - we have to finish fourth in the championship, we have to be able to split the BMWs and occasionally fight for a podium. That is what we are all about this year."

When asked if he felt they were now in a position to match the pace of BMW Sauber, Bell said: "It ebbs and flows a little bit depending on the circuit, but on a good day we can be a match for them with Fernando."