Alonso says Renault must improve fast
Fernando Alonso says his Renault team must make a significant amount of improvement quickly if it is to stand a chance of fighting for the titles
The French squad has endured a shaky start to the season and hasn't shown anything like the kind of pace needed to fight for victories yet.
Alonso finished in fifth place at the incident-filled Australian Grand Prix and will start tomorrow's race in Malaysia from a distant ninth position.
The Spaniard admitted he was expecting better from the Sepang weekend, but the team now realised it would not be competitive early on.
The two-time champion has warned Renault must make progress quickly or risk losing touch with the championship leaders.
"It (the starting position) is a bit better than what we did. We had been 10th, very, very on the limit. We were expecting more," Alonso told reporters after qualifying. "We were expecting to be in the top five or top seven in Q2 and the same in Q3 and it wasn't possible.
"We knew from yesterday that we were not very competitive. This morning we confirmed that feeling unfortunately, so we went into qualifying with some doubts about our performance and we saw Nelsinho going out in Q1 so we were not very happy with our performance today.
"If we want to fight for the championship we need to be more at the front. We need to improve our pace almost from the next grand prix."
Alonso conceded the race is likely to be difficult for him, but was still hopeful that, like in Australia, something could happen to help him move forward.
"You never know. Races are always difficult," he added. "We saw in Australia that after the first corner I was last and then I finished fifth. You never know what's going to happen in the race. You can never give up, but it's true we are starting ninth. All the cars in front of us are quicker than us.
"Some cars behind us, like Vettel, are quicker than us. So it's difficult to hope for something better than ninth if you see how quick the guys in front of us are. But the race is very long, very different, the start will be interesting if we can gain some places with the KERS. We'll see after that."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
F1 teams and Pirelli had no warning of “painted” Shanghai track surface
FIA still chasing answers over bizarre Shanghai F1 grass fires
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
Alonso: Stroll more sensitive to Aston F1 car handling issues I drive around
Aston Martin ‘not convinced’ Alonso would definitely want to stay in F1
Suzuka sensation redeemed Alonso, but his F1 future is complicated
What could have been: When Villeneuve’s shock return thwarted an F1 rookie
Friday favourite: Renault's original F1 title-winner that began the Alonso era
Why Renault's survivor wasn't part of Alpine's plans
MotoGP schedule: When is the next MotoGP race and where will it be held?
Honda MotoGP boss "confused" by "good improvements" not working
Friday favourite: Why Herbert prefers a car he had to wrestle above his F1 winners
New Time Attack competition for 1990s F1 cars launched by AGS successor
The short-term pain that hides a very real Williams improvement
How a Shanghai to Sheffield journey paved the way for China’s F1 hero
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments