Alonso predicts strong Valencia race

The Spanish driver fought for victory in Monaco and was set to fight for the top place again in Canada before he was taken out of the race by McLaren's Jenson Button.

Alonso reckons the Valencia circuit should offer his team the chance to fight for its first win of the season again.

"I know that our fans are eagerly awaiting our first win of the season and I can assure you that the same goes for us," Alonso wrote on Ferrari's website.

"At the last two races, we showed we were clearly capable of winning and, especially in Monaco, we came pretty close, although I believe that even in Canada I could have fought for it all the way to the end, given what we had seen in qualifying.

"Now we go to a track with reasonably similar characteristics to Montreal and there is no obvious reason why we should not be competitive here too."

The two-time champion is also hoping for a change of luck following a difficult start to the season.

"I always believe that luck and bad luck balance out by the end of the season and maybe this unwritten rule also applies to race tracks," he said.

"If that's the case, I would be more than happy if last year's misfortune was paid back now! In fact, it seems that in general so far this season, luck has not come our way: in the race in Montreal, not one damned thing went right."