Alonso keeping expectations in check

The Spaniard has won in the principality for the last two years with McLaren and Renault, but this season he arrives with a much less competitive car.

Despite Renault's improved form since the Spanish Grand Prix, and the fact that Monaco is usually a performance equaliser, Alonso played down suggestions that his team can match rivals McLaren, who look like favourites for victory.

"At the moment I don't think so because regarding how we are this year we are not in the good level to fight for the victories," Alonso told reporters.

"We cannot arrive here too optimistic. Also, how the McLaren performed here last year I think they are clearly the favorites for this year.

"But as I said, many things can happen. Monaco is a completely different race and you only win if you finish the race. So even if tomorrow we are very behind or they are in a dominant position all weekend, if they do not finish the race it is enough to finish the race."

The two-time champion, however, admits Monaco is always a good place to spring surprises, and he is not completely ruling out fighting near the top.

"We have always some surprises in Monaco: some cars that perform better here than at the normal tracks. And the opposite: some cars that perform a little bit worse than at a normal track," Alonso said.

"We will see. We need to wait until tomorrow because we have some confidence that this track, this race will be good for us.

"It will be a little opportunity to fight with the top teams. We are happy with the results from the Paul Ricard test last week. We will see.

"It could happen like in 2004 when the Renault was not in the position to win races or fight for podiums. We arrived in Monaco and Trulli won the race and I crashed in the tunnel when I was second.

"Otherwise that was one and two in Monte Carlo, and hopefully we can repeat this type of thing."

The Renault driver said his team are unlikely to opt for an aggressive strategy in order to start in front, despite the importance of qualifying well on a track where overtaking is virtually impossible.

"I don't know. I didn't check the strategy that they are thinking about at the moment. But I don't think that we will risk too much in terms of strategy because here, okay, pole position is important, but we know that the longer you go the better it is here.

"In the past it used to be a one stop strategy in normal circumstances and I think from the 11th guy it will be a one stop strategy. You cannot risk too much and put yourself in a bad position, so I think we will be in a standard strategy."