Alonso: fifth better than expected

"Fifth is better than expected, I thought I would be further back," Alonso told Spanish television.

"We knew this weekend would be the most difficult of the season for us and it currently is."

The Spaniard, who is yet to finish at the Indianapolis race after four attempts, said he was not too surprised by Ferrari's pace after the Italian squad secured an all-red front row with Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa.

"Both in Canada and here we expected Ferrari to be superior," said Alonso, who had grabbed the last five pole positions. "In Canada it didn't happen because of a problem with the tyres but here it's closer to reality."

Alonso, however, is still confident he can improve his position in the race tomorrow.

"I'm sure we can do something. We have a good strategy, a lot of fuel in the car and we are more optimistic for tomorrow than we were for qualifying, which we knew would be tough."

The Spaniard and Schumacher already had a small battle on Saturday, when they fought for track position at the start of the third part of qualifying. Their cars lined up side by side at the end of the pitlane, waiting for the green light to go off.

"We tried to get a good start, as if it was a race, to get a good position for qualifying, and I had a better start than Michael," joked Alonso.  "A fun moment that I will not enjoy tomorrow, unfortunately."