Alonso says times not significant

The double world champion told reporters in Barcelona that while new developments had improved the R28 since he finished 10th in the Bahrain GP, today's times were not representative of Renault's position in form at the moment.

"Five minutes before those times we were position 15 so we cannot be confused about the position at the end of the day and we need to look more to the previous position - and P15 is not as we want it," he said.

"We found some big difficulties in terms of traction, and some oversteer in the car, that we didn't sort out through the sessions. So we still need to work tonight because we were not extremely happy with the car today."

Alonso added that he expected his weekend to involve a pitched battle with the other midfield teams currently chasing Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.

"They are still the target," when he asked whether he thought points were a more realistic goal than a podium. "It is similar to the first three races. In some races we had more problems than the others, and in some we were a little bit better.

"Here hopefully is one of the races that we are a little bit better than our opponents. And that will again be Red Bull, Williams and Toyota tomorrow to be in Q3 and I am fighting for the last couple of points.

Talking about the new developments to the Renault, which include a Red Bull-esque sail behind the airbox, Alonso said he was happy, but did not think they would be enough to close the gap to the top three teams.

"I think this year will be very difficult, nearly impossible, because we have some aggressive programme of developments in the car and we are quite optimistic on the developing programme, but when you need to recover one second to teams like Ferrari and McLaren, they also develop so quickly during the season it is not easy at all," he said.

"So I think we will improve the car during the season a lot, but I think they will as well.

"Maybe we are more looking to next year where the rules are changing quite a lot and then is the time to gain more time than the others."