Alonso Confident despite 'Confusing' Day

Alonso, who can become Formula One's youngest Champion on Sunday, had lapped quicker than McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen in the first hour-long session although times mean little on a Friday.

However, the 24-year-old Spaniard was only 11th in the afternoon while the Finn was sixth.

"It was a bit confusing today really: we were quick in the first session, and then this afternoon, there were quite a lot of people in front of us," said Alonso.

"The track conditions were not very good, so we didn't make many changes to the set-up - we just concentrated on doing long runs on the tyres to understand our choice, and we will wait for the grip levels to improve tomorrow, which will definitely help the car balance.

"The tyre choice is quite close, because Michelin have brought two excellent tyres, so we will have to look closely at the data to make our final validation. But overall, I still have lots of confidence for the rest of the weekend, and I am sure we can be quick."

Alonso leads Raikkonen by 25 points and need only finish third to secure the title with two races to spare. Renault are six points ahead of McLaren, who have won the last four races, in the constructors' standings.

His teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was also upbeat on Renault's chances after finishing in 10th position in the afternoon.

"I think it was a pretty good day for us," he said. "We still need to improve the overall grip because it was difficult to put in a clean lap today, as the car balance was a little bit inconsistent. But I think a lot of it was down to the track conditions, and they were the same for everybody today.

"Apart from that, though, we seem to have good consistency and I think we are quite competitive here, maybe more than in the recent races."