Alonso struggling with fitness

Although the Renault driver is confident that he will be at full strength by the time the race starts on Sunday, he was forced to restrict himself to just 32 laps in Friday practice - fewer than any other driver.

"Tomorrow in qualifying I will be 90 per cent and Sunday hopefully 100 per cent," he said of his health. "The team doctor and physios are looking after my health, so I'm in good hands.

"I have an infection in my ear, a temperature and am not feeling very well from two days ago. Today we tried to do the minimum number of laps to not lose too much water. The race is on Sunday, so we tried to do some set-up work but it's very light."

Alonso added that despite the team struggling in practice, he expects a better performance from the Renault R29 in qualifying and the race.

"There is more to come from our car," he said. "We need to find a better set-up. We tested some interesting things today, so tomorrow we need to put everything together."