Alonso fires out a warning in practice

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica topped the timesheets in both sessions but the young Polish test driver will not race on Sunday.

Alonso, winner of six of the 10 races to date and 19 points clear of Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the standings, was second quickest in the afternoon session after sitting out the morning.

His time of 1:17.498 was the fastest by a race driver on a day dominated by the unsung testers.

"I think we have a good picture of the directions we need to take tomorrow, both in terms of the Michelin tyres and the car set-up," said Alonso. "The new C-spec engine feels like a good step and has performed without any problems so far, which is encouraging.

"Magny-Cours is a circuit I always enjoy, because the two high-speed chicanes that give it something unique for the drivers, and even today we could see plenty of our fans and colleagues from Renault in the grandstands.

"There will be even more tomorrow and Sunday, and I hope our performance will live up to their expectations. So far, so good."

Italian teammate Giancarlo Fisichella completed a strong day for the French squad by setting the fifth fastest time.

"This was another good start to the race weekend for me, which is encouraging after my strong performance in Indianapolis," said Fisichella. "I started out the session with a bit too much oversteer so we had to make some changes to the car, but we calmed it down and it began to feel easy to drive and consistent.

"We still have some room for improvement tomorrow, but I am happy with the situation so far and I think we have got some good ideas for what we need to do in the race. This was a promising start for me."