Alonso draws positives from fifth

The double world champion believes that Ferrari has decreased the performance gap to Red Bull, but admitted that there was still work to be done before he can fight for wins.

"It was okay," he told the BBC. "I am still far away from pole position - 0.8s - but then in China we were 1.4s so evidently we have made a step forward with the car with the new components. But we need to keep working in this direction and we need to be closer," he added, "but we are happy with this, we have maximised the potential again."

Alonso also reckons that a podium finish is not out of the question in Sunday's race, pointing out that Ferrari has narrowly missed out on a top-three finish in the last two races.

"We will see tomorrow, the podium possibility is still there," said Alonso. "In Malaysia we were very close until we touched with Lewis and damaged the front wing, in China Felipe was very close as well so hopefully in Turkey we can do it."