Alonso: Hamilton in a good position

The Briton needs to finish in fifth place to clinch the crown, but he will start from the second row of the grid, behind the two Ferraris and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Alonso downplayed suggestions that Hamilton is in a difficult situation.

"I don't think fourth is a bad position," Alonso told reporters after qualifying. "It's not the middle of the pack. He has one Toyota in front, which is many lighter than him and maybe it not a worry.

"He has the two Ferraris, which is more or less normal and the fifth guy is his teammate, so I don't think it's a big problem.

"As far as you need to finish in the top five.. I cannot say it's very easy, but it's not too difficult to finish in the top five. I don't think he needs to worry now.

"We'll see how the race develops. I think Massa wanted to be on pole and Lewis more or less has what he wanted. With his teammate alongside and in the top four."

The Spaniard will be start behind Hamilton, but he played down his chances of being a threat for the Briton at the start.

"I think we need to have a good start, first of all. We know that we start worse than McLaren. We saw two weeks ago in China. I was fourth, Kovalainen was fifth and he overtook me in 100 meters.

"Because we start worse than McLaren it will be difficult to gain any position. It will be more of a defending start for me, from Vettel and from the guys behind me."

The Renault driver will start the race from sixth position, and admitted it would be not realistic to expect to fight with the Ferraris and the McLarens in the race.

"Top five, maybe, top six," said Alonso when asked what was his goals for the race. "I'm starting sixth, but I don't see many possibilities to be in front of McLaren and Ferrari, so maybe our target is Trulli, but he is P2 so he's way ahead of us. From P6 it will be difficult to beat him. So maybe top five or top six is our realistic target.

"But in the races anything can happen. As I said, the tyres are a concern and rain is a possibility. so if you make good decisions and good tyre calls maybe you can get a podium. We will not give up now."