Alonso says podium finish unrealistic

The Spaniard has finished in the top three in four of his last five home races, only missing out when he finished in fourth place in 2004.

"It is true that every time I came here to my home GP I had a possibility to fight for pole or victory," Alonso told a news conference in Barcelona.

"If not that, the podium was a real possibility. This year it is not any more a real possibility, just a dream, as it was in the first three races.

"Something strange needs to happen in the race if we want to reach the podium in this race. This will be the first step we need to do this season to be close to the podium.

"We need to keep improving the car and this weekend will be the first opportunity to see if we are going in the right direction."

Alonso's Renault team are introducing several updates for this weekend's race, hoping that it will be enough to allow them to escape the midfield group.

The two-time world champion reckons the upgraded car should be a few tenths quicker, but he admits he is not sure if that will be enough.

"I think we made a step forward in terms of competitiveness of the car and we will see this weekend what is the result," Alonso said.

"Last week was difficult to read into the times because of a mix of slicks and more or less fuel between teams, so we try and concentrate on our performance and our car.

"I think we gained a couple of tenths in the car so we will see if it's enough or not to get us into Q3 and not have the problems we had in the first few races and hopefully be regularly in the points. We need to raise our level and this is our starting point."

He added: "We are quite happy with the car and the improvements we did but maybe we won't be happy tomorrow if we see the others and they are quick as well.

"I think we did a good job, the other teams did a good job too, and it is a matter of which team did the biggest step. We can improve, and must improve, what we did in the first three races."