Alonso Aims to Stay Out of Fight for Title

Spaniard Fernando Alonso is aiming not to interfere in the fight for this year's drivers's title by finishing in front of the contenders.

Alonso, the winner of the Hungarian Grand Prix, will start from sixth position with his Renault, two places behind Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya but one in front of Championship leader Michael Schumacher, who leads the Williams driver by three points.

Alonso was pleased with his performance and is now looking to make a good start to gain a few positions.

"We have improved the car since this morning, and I was happier with the handling than during practice," said Alonso. "Nevertheless, it still feels nervous, with understeer in some corners and oversteer in others. Still, I will be starting from a competitive position tomorrow.

"I know the title contenders are close by me on the grid, but I will be looking to make up positions at the start and drive a normal race. I don't want to disrupt the fight for the title and the surest way of doing that is to finish in front of them."

There was disappointment for Alonso's Italian teammate Jarno Trulli, who damaged his car in Saturday's warm-up after setting the pace on Friday. Trulli, the last man to go out on track, qualified only 10th.

"Firstly, I want to thank all the mechanics, who did a fantastic job to get the car ready after my accident in the warm-up," said the Italian. "As for the qualifying lap, nothing felt quite right: I made small mistakes all the way round the lap, and I perhaps had some trouble adapting to changing track conditions.

"It is disappointing to start from so far back, but we have already shown this weekend that our package is very competitive. We have chosen a good strategy and I am intending to drive an attacking race tomorrow."