Alonso says Renault closer than expected

The Spaniard could only manage the 12th fastest time today after being hit a by differential problem that made his car very tricky to drive in the final session.

The two-time champion, however, felt Renault were closer than expect in the second qualifying segment.

"We are something like eight tenths behind the fastest in Q2 because we were able to do a 1m25.9s in Q2. The quickest time was a 1m25.1s, so we are something like eight tenths behind the top one," Alonso told reporters after qualifying.

"That is a little bit of a nice surprise because we are a little bit closer than we thought, and because the competition is very high and, not only us, we were able to reduce the gap.

"Many teams are closer to Ferrari and McLaren and it is good competition at the moment."

However, Alonso admitted the result has been far from pleasing for Renault, who today were the ninth quickest car of the field.

"That is something to look at closely," he said. It is true that I was nearly able to get into Q3 but the team result overall is not fantastic. Twelfth and 21st is not a good result at all.

"We still have work to do, we knew that. For Nelsinho it was a difficult weekend, with very little practice yesterday because of some mechanical problems.

"And it is a tricky circuit here in Melbourne also. We will improve also for Malaysia. Okay we didn't arrive for Q3, but we are closer to the top teams than we thought before we came here."

The Spaniard says his goal for tomorrow's race is just to score some points.

"I think with the starting position, aiming for points will be our target," he said. "We have to be realistic and knowing that we are not quite ready yet, but we will try to improve for sure the 11th position.

" So whatever is the position, we will try to be in the points tomorrow, knowing that people behind me, like (Kimi) Raikkonen and (Mark) Webber will be difficult to keep behind.

"So we have a double job tomorrow - try to recover places and not to lose it to Raikkonen and people like that"