Alonso Wants to Turn Praise into First Points

Renault Formula One driver Fernando Alonso is a special talent who has what it takes to win races, his team boss Flavio Briatore said today.

But the Spaniard, still just 21, kept his feet on the ground at the track launch of the team's new R23 car by reminding reporters that he had yet to win any points.

The team, which raced as Renault for the first time last season after buying out Benetton, have set a target of at least four podium finishes this season with a car that technical director Mike Gascoyne said was the "first real Renault".

But Alonso said his immediate ambition was more basic.

"I want to score the first point of my career," he told reporters. "The target for the team is maybe a little bit higher, to be fighting with the big teams, but for me it is just to score the first points and just see what happens.

"But the car is good, maybe we can aim high."

Alonso spent last year as Renault test driver after a promising debut season with tail-end Minardi, making a big impression despite failing to score, and replaces departed Briton Jenson Button alongside Italian Jarno Trulli.

No Clone

"We believe he is somebody very special," said Briatore, the team boss who took Michael Schumacher to his first world title with Benetton in 1994.

"Schumacher is Schumacher, Alonso is Alonso and Senna is Senna. I do not believe he is a copy. We don't have cloning of drivers yet, if we did you'd make a fortune. I believe he has the potential to be special. Special means somebody who has everything to win races if you give him the right car.

"We didn't win with Schumacher at the beginning because we did not have a good car. But he's only 21, he's very mature, very together and very determined. The target for him is to finish races and go quickly."

Alonso drove the car around the revamped Le Castellet circuit today on a cold but sunny morning and said it was a relief to be back in the driving seat knowing that he would be on the grid in Australia on March 9.

"It was quite difficult and very frustrating," he said of his year on the sidelines. "For any racing driver, to be watching the TV is not a great deal. I'm in the car now, I know the team, I know the car and I know the way that Renault works."

He shrugged off the pressure, even though he is now the only Spanish driver in Formula One and the first to have a chance of winning races with a major team.

Alonso dismissed recent barbed comments by Canadian former champion Jacques Villeneuve, who said a lot of the young drivers coming into the sport were little more than corporate robots with little personality.

"Jacques Villeneuve says a lot of things," he said with a smile. "Sometimes he is wrong, sometimes he is right. I think I have a good character."

Renault finished fourth overall last season but have yet to secure a first podium since they returned as a chassis manufacturer as well as engine maker.

They have a new engine and Renault F1 France managing director Jean-Jacques His said it would be more reliable and more powerful than its predecessor, while Gascoyne said the chassis was also a big improvement.

"We've made the biggest step we can," said Gascoyne.