Alonso downplays practice showing

The Renault driver jumped to the top of the times in the afternoon session to outpace local hero Felipe Massa with a fastest lap of 1:12.296.

Alonso, winner of two of the last three races, said however that his time was not really representative of the pecking order at Interlagos.

"It was more or less as we expected," Alonso told reporters. "I think the times are not very representative because five minutes to the end I was P18, and in the last minute I was P1. So we are not as bad as P18, but we are not as good as P1. So we see tomorrow.

"The best thing from today is that we found some good answers in terms of set-up changes we did. Some of them were quite good and some of them were quite bad, so at least we learned something.

"We need to keep improving the car tonight because we are not totally happy with the balance of the car so far.

"Hopefully tomorrow we can be a little bit quicker and that is what we need because the times here are very, very close. In one second, there are maybe 15 cars or 16 cars, and one extra tenth we can find in the setup or from myself driving a perfect lap can make a huge difference tomorrow in qualifying.

"That is the target for tomorrow - to improve and maximise the performance."

The Spaniard admitted he is not expecting to be able to match the pace of the Ferraris and the McLarens.

"I don't think so," he added. "It is the same as China and Fuji. Even if we are quick on Friday and also in the race when we arrive in qualifying (it changes). I was P4 in Fuji, P4 in China and I had Massa behind me in Fuji and Kovalainen too, so I can be fighting with the last of the fourth. But no more than that.

"They are a little bit too quick for us at the moment. Hopefully we can repeat the performance here again, be in the top five or top six cars and if you start there then anything can happen in the race.

"The forecast is not 100 percent, there are even today some corners with drops of rain - and if these are the conditions for the race it will be very, very tricky for everyone to make decisions and tyre choice. If you are in the top six you are in a very good position to take advantage of anything."