Alonso 'relaxed' despite poor position

The Spaniard, coming under increasing pressure from Ferrari's Michael Schumacher in the title fight, could only manage seventh position in today's qualifying.

The result equalled his season's worst performance, which came in Malaysia, where he completed qualifying with almost twice as much fuel as needed following an error.

The Renault driver leads Schumacher by 17 points and has won six races this year, but his Ferrari rival seems to have the momentum, having won the last two races in Indianapolis and France.

Alonso, however, is staying calm.

"I've only been slow at Indianapolis and I was second at Magny-Cours, so I'm not worried at all," said Alonso at Hockenheim after qualifying. "I'm doing my job, and the job is normally on Sunday afternoon, not Saturday. I'm relaxed.

"It's not the best position, but I think I started seventh in Malaysia also and I finished second," he added. "Montoya started last here in 2005 and finished second. It is always a circuit that is not too difficult to overtake. We are confident we will be quick tomorrow.

"We did not have the pace today, but we hope to tomorrow in the long run. The car was okay. I did not have a big problems or complaints about the balance. I felt confident but obviously every time I crossed the line the time was not competitive."

Alonso, turning 25 today, will start tomorrow's race five places behind Schumacher.

Despite that, the Renault driver is still confident of reaching the podium.

"We will have to see," he said. "The race is very long. It's the second race on the engine for Michael and for me, so we'll see.

"Maybe we'll have some surprises. We still have a good chance to be on the podium, to be competitive. We'll see how the traffic and the tyres work tomorrow, because I think all those ahead of us will have different tyres and strategies.

"At the moment it is not great, but if I can get on the podium tomorrow it won't be so bad."