Alonso encouraged by Renault's form

The former world champion bounced back from an engine failure in the morning session to edge out Ferrari duo Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen in the afternoon - pleased that improvements tried out in recent testing at Barcelona have improved the performance of his R28.

"We had a small engine problem at the end of the morning session but my mechanics did a remarkable job to fix the car and we were able to continue our free practice programme this afternoon without any problems," said Alonso.

"We tried several new elements that we ran in the test last week and everything went well and we completed our programme. Looking ahead to qualifying tomorrow, I think that our level of performance is rather encouraging."

Renault's step forward in pace was indicated further with Nelson Piquet getting himself up to ninth position on the timesheets in the afternoon.

"The day has gone well," explained the Brazilian. "We have been able to do a lot of running and as a result collected lots of data, which I hope will allow us to continue improving after we have been through it this evening.

"We still need to make some small changes to improve the behaviour of the car, but overall I am satisfied with this first day. It's certainly a good start to the weekend."

Despite the optimism, however, Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds warned against getting too carried away with Alonso's pace.

"While it's always good to see your car at the top of the timesheets, we know that this is not always a true indication of our ultimate level of performance," he said.

"Nonetheless, both cars completed their programmes today and we have some useful information, which is a good basis for the rest of the weekend."