Alonso wants to get straight to the points

The Spaniard from Oviedo demonstrated some of his much anticipated potential on his return to F1 by finishing seventh at Albert Park.

"I'm very, very pleased to have scored my first points in Melbourne," he said. "It was a good result for everybody. It was a fantastic feeling - the team's strategy was excellent and the decision to start on dry tyres was a big advantage. I was really able to fight and race properly, after not competing for so long. It was a new experience for me in Formula 1 and it was a good one."

Alonso rates the next track in Malaysia highly, despite the fact that it represents a difficult challenge in comparison to Melbourne.

"I enjoy Sepang because it is one of the most technical circuits, now that there is no more Spa," he said. "I think it is one of the most challenging tracks, with Suzuka and Monaco. The whole lap is very complicated, very technical and demands absolute concentration. A good lap time is always very difficult because there is no one corner that is more important than the others - you can gain and lose time everywhere."

It is a view with which his team-mate Jarno Trulli agrees: "There is a wide variety of high, medium and slow corners, you could pick out almost any one of them as being a big challenge," he said.