Alonso shrugs off Bahrain result

Alonso, winner the of the Sakhir event for the past two years with Renault, was unable to match the pace of the leaders on Sunday, having to settle for fifth position after being defeated for the first time by McLaren teammate Lewis Hamilton, second in the race.

The Spaniard, however, retained the lead of the championship, albeit shared with Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso, who moved from Renault to McLaren after last season, was disappointed with the Bahrain race, but admitted he was more than happy to be leading the championship by now.

"We are three races into the championship, and they said it was going to be a debacle and that leaving Renault was a big mistake, and now I'm leading the championship," Alonso told Spanish reporters after the race.

"Before the season started I wasn't dreaming of having 22 points by now and arriving in Barcelona as championship leader, which was almost unthinkable.

"My goal was to score as many points as possible and not lose too much ground to the Ferraris and then wait for the car to be developed and for it to adapt to the Bridgestone tyres before I started winning races and fighting in front.

"So who would have thought we'd be tied with Ferrari when it looked like they were going to dominate after the preseason."

Alonso, starting from fourth place on the grid, said he was unsure about the reasons for his lack of pace, admitting he never felt comfortable with his car.

"I don't know," he said when asked about the reasons of his struggle. "I didn't have confidence in the car all race long.

"It was lacking grip, in the front and in the rear, so it was not only a set-up problem or something like that. I couldn't find the rhythm to be on top.

"The strategy would have worked if I had been quicker in the race. But going slower meant I lost too much time. When you are fast any strategy is good and when you are slow none works, and I was too slow."