Alonso sure title battle will be tougher

The Renault driver kicked off his title defence in perfect style with a well-earned win over Michael Schumacher at Sakhir, but he has been left in no doubt that the competition is going to be much tougher this year.

That has left him believing that he and Renault cannot afford to make any mistakes during the course of the season - because it could drop him out of the points.

"Last year we were fighting only with McLaren," he said in Malaysia on Thursday. "If you had a bad weekend you finished fourth. This year a bad weekend could leave you seventh or eighth.

"That won't be enough points to win the championship. We have to be more concentrated and work harder to develop the car."

Alonso's feelings on the title chase have urged him to encourage his Renault team to keep pushing the development of their R26.

"The whole car has to improve," he claimed. "With the engine we'll need more horsepower, no doubt to keep the level of competitiveness. And also the car has to improve.

"For sure the other teams will have some things in mind for the fifth and sixth races, which is normally when the cars improve a lot. We cannot sleep now."

Alonso believes the outcome of the championship battle will almost certainly depend on tyres - with any Bridgestone advantage set to hand Ferrari the initiative.

"In Bahrain, the Bridgestone tyres worked very well so Ferrari was fighting for the victory and Williams set the fastest lap of the race," explained Alonso. "So when the Bridgestone tyre works Ferrari will be the main challenger probably, and when the Michelin is better probably McLaren and Honda will be our rivals."

Alonso insists, however, that he has had no surprises about the closeness of the fight at the front of the field - or the fact that Renault have started their title defence so strongly.

"We prepared the car well and we proved in Bahrain it is competitive. Some of the teams, yes, there are surprises. Honda is quick compared to last year, Ferrari also. Toyota is a little bit down at the moment.

"There are always changes between the teams but for me that is not important. The only thing is that Renault is still there."

And in terms of his own approach to the campaign, Alonso knows that there will be no relaxing on his part.

"I am the same as last year: thinking I have to be consistent.  I cannot make mistakes, I need to finish races and finish on the podium. When the car is quick and more competitive we have the possibility to win. When this is not the case we have to think about the second place to repeat the championship."