Alonso Hoping to Find More Speed

Alonso, who two years ago became the youngest Grand Prix winner in Hungary, was only eighth on the timesheets on his 24th birthday.

The Spaniard, however, feels confident his team can improve their pace tomorrow.

"Today was not too bad, but the grip levels are still very low on the circuit," said Alonso. "I didn't have any big problems with the car balance, some oversteer at slow speed but nothing we cannot fix, and I think the main thing we need is for the grip levels to improve in order to help the car.

"In terms of our competitiveness, we don't seem particularly quick at the moment, but you never know what fuel loads other people are running.

"We need to just concentrate on our programme, make the tyre choice and find some ways to improve the speed of the car."

Renault endured a difficult first day after Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella lost valuable track time when he spun and stalled in the afternoon session.

Fisichella wound up 11th.

"I didn't do as much running as I wanted in the second session after I spun in the last corner, and the anti-stall didn't kick in, which left the car stranded," Fisichella explained.

"That makes it hard to have a clear impression of where we are, but for me, there is still work to do on improving the behaviour of the rear end of the car - we need better traction, and more rear end stability under braking.

"I didn't get a good feel for our relative speed but from track-side, the McLarens looked very impressive today."