Alonso confident of home success

The Renault driver has been buoyed by his first pole position of the season at the Hungarian Grand Prix and, although his race hopes were dashed by a loose wheel, he thinks progress with the car could help deliver a strong result.

"Our performance in Hungary was encouraging as the car was quick and we managed to get pole, which was actually a bit of a surprise," said Alonso.

"To retire from the race was disappointing, but I'm looking on the bright side because I think that the car can be just as competitive in Valencia.

"Last year my race there was very short - less than a lap - so I'm really determined to make up for that this weekend and hopefully we can fight for the podium."

Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds says the team is eyeing an aggressive development push over the second half of the season.

"We can certainly push a lot more developments onto the R29 in the final part of the season and there is another big aero update for later in the year," he explained. "We're also preparing the specific medium and low downforce configurations that are needed for Spa and Monza.

"How much more we do after that will depend how next year's car, the R30, is progressing and whether we can transfer what we learn from that onto the current car."

He added: "The R29 has shown recently that it's a good car in all types of corner and so I'm confident that we can be competitive in Valencia. Like any street course, it rewards brave and capable drivers and we've certainly got that in Fernando, who will have home advantage and massive support from the fans this weekend."