Alonso targets 'perfect' qualifying

The Spaniard was fastest in both of Thursday's practice sessions for Monaco, and said he felt comfortable with how his F10 felt on the tight street circuit.

But with little separating the leading drivers on the timesheets, Alonso thinks that he will need to dig deep - and run error-free - if he is going to secure a vital slot near the front of the field.

"I think for sure this is a circuit you need to get confidence as soon as possible," said Alonso.

"It is a circuit that you need to feel okay in the car and to maximise the potential, and it is very good to start in a good way because you don't need to go crazy or change completely the set-up or find a miracle for Saturday.

"You just need continuity in the set-up and the way you do your runs, and overall I think we found a car very good from the beginning and a car that was very easy to drive.

"Felipe [Massa] and I were happy with our session, but we know in qualifying it will be very close, as we saw in practice. Within three tenths of a second, there are seven or eight cars, so we cannot afford any mistakes on the driver side or the set-up side. We need to be perfect on Saturday."

Alonso was also not getting too carried away with the practice form - well aware that favourites Red Bull Racing often never show their best form until the final stages of qualifying.

"I think we maybe did improve a little bit compared to Barcelona, and hopefully we are not one second behind the Red Bulls. But we need to wait until Saturday.

"We have seen some strong Fridays from us and strong Fridays from McLaren, and then on Saturdays Red Bull got the pole position very easy. So we need to be clever and do a good lap on Saturday. If not you can end up sixth or seventh."