Alonso bullish on podium chances

The Renault driver, who has scored just nine points so far this year, will start the race from third position behind the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

And the Spaniard reckons his team's pace is strong enough to allow them to fight behind the Italian squad.

"The times were very tight today, in both Q1 and Q2, but I made it through to Q3 and was able to set a good time," said Alonso.

"The car has really improved and so for the first time this season we have the real chance to fight for the podium.

"The Ferraris are certainly a step ahead, but we will give our maximum to get a good result tomorrow."

Nelsinho Piquet admitted he was disappointed to miss the cut to go into Q3, although the Brazilian will start from 10th thanks to Lewis Hamilton's grid penalty.

He is optimistic, however, that his strategy will allow him to have a good race.

"It's frustrating to miss out on Q3, but we didn't anticipate the behaviour of the soft tyres which turned out be slower than we thought," he said.

"But at least we have the chance to adopt the ideal strategy for the race tomorrow and I hope we can benefit from that because it is particularly difficult to overtake here.

"The times were very close today, but the car behaved well and I think we can be on the pace in normal race conditions, and I will do my best to try and score my first points tomorrow."