Alonso expects no upsets at Monaco

The Monte Carlo circuit is renowned as a performance equaliser, and the races there are usually filled with trouble due to the nature of the track.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali suggested after Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix that BMW and even Renault could join his squad and McLaren in the fight on top.

"I think that not only McLaren will be strong, I am expecting Renault, BMW of course to be strong again," said Domenicali. "Everything will be different, so I think Monte Carlo will be a very important race for everyone."

Alonso, however, reckons the situation on top is likely to stay unchanged.

"We'll see," said Alonso when asked if he expected surprises at Monaco.

"That's what we always think when going to Monaco or at least we all think Monaco is so different that things will change, but in the end it's always a McLaren or a Ferrari winning or Renault like in 2006.

"The cars that have been winning all season arrive at Monaco and win too so in the end we see less surprises than we initially expect," added the Renault driver, who has won on the streets of the principality for the past two years.

The Renault team confirmed the step forward they have taken, with Alonso finishing in sixth place in Turkey's race on Sunday.

The two-time champion, however, said that was the best possible result.

"Yeah, impossible to do better," he said. "It sounds a bit repetitive, but the three teams in front are too far from the rest and we are fighting for seventh place, which is what we have been saying for a while.

"Here we achieved that, there were no surprises. Thanks to Kovalainen's problem we finished sixth, otherwise we would have been seventh."