Alonso plays down Friday performance

The Spanish Renault driver, 12 points ahead of championship rival Michael Schumacher, did not set a time in the morning and was just eighth fastest in the afternoon.

Schumacher, in contrast, was the quickest racing driver in the second session, finishing nearly 1.5 seconds in front of Alonso.

But despite the gap to his Ferrari rival, Alonso is staying calm.

"We ran a lot here last week, so today was all about checking off some specific jobs for the race, and testing the tyres," said Alonso. "The Michelins seem very consistent, and the performance was right there from the first lap too.

"The times suggest we are not so quick, especially compared to Ferrari, but this is Friday and we know how much things can change through the weekend.

"I had a bit too much understeer today that meant I couldn't attack the corners as I wanted to, but we will dial this out overnight and I am confident the car will feel good tomorrow. I think we have made a good start to the weekend, and we now need to build on this."

Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella said Renault had been conservative in the way they ran their cars today, the Italian winding up 15th.

"Last week's test meant we could do a lot of preparation for the race, and today was just about checking the car really," said Fisichella. "We were conservative in the way we ran the car, especially for me as my engine has already done a hard race in Turkey.

"The car balance isn't perfect yet and we have some understeer, but we did our programme, did the tests we wanted to and now need to study the data overnight. The performance wasn't fantastic today, but I am not worried for the rest of the weekend."