Alonso downplays Renault's practice form

Although his teammate Nelson Piquet was second fastest in Friday practice and Alonso himself was fourth overall, the Spaniard says he is not expecting a different run of form from those the team have experienced in recent races.

"I think everything was as we expected," said Alonso. "It is true that now at the last part of the practice we had second and fourth places, but I think it is more related to fuel and things like that.

"I think with the car before the last couple of runs we were P12/P14, so I think more or less it will be like the last GP. Hopefully tomorrow we can be in Q3 and after that fighting for the highest position possible - maybe P6/P7 or P5. It will be very similar to the previous grands prix."

Alonso does believe, however, that the soft range of tyres used in Hungary does suit his Renault better than the harder rubber used in recent races.

"I think for us, for whatever reason it seems to work better the soft compounds," he said. "Canada and Monaco (with softs) were some races that we were quite good in terms of performance and we were quite happy with our car. Then races like Silverstone or Hockenheim, with the hard compounds, we were under-performing a little.

"So we are happy to work with these compounds. But this is a difficult track for traction, for acceleration, so we know it will be a difficult weekend for us."