Alonso Warns There's More to Come

The Spaniard edged out Toyota's Jarno Trulli by just more than one tenth of a second and, after losing time in the final sector of the Sakhir track, he is confident that he can go even quicker in Sunday morning's final qualifying session.

"The R25 was handling very well on my timed lap, and the Michelin tyres had a very strong level of performance," said Alonso. "On the tyre side, this performance is the confirmation that they are competitive in very different conditions, on contrasting types of circuit; it also shows this is true for our chassis-engine package.

"I lost some time in the final corner, but I still had some margin: I will need to push the car even more tomorrow morning in order to maintain the gap."

Alonso's teammate Giancarlo Fisichella ended qualifying fifth overall, having been one of the first cars out onto the dirty track, and he was confident about maintaining his position for Sunday's race.

"It is not too bad to finish fifth, because I was only the seventh car out this afternoon," explained the Italian. "The track was very dirty early on, particularly in turns 4 and 8, which cost me time. I also lost out in the final corner a little, where the wind was destabilising the cars.

"However, I have found a good car balance for the race and we know the R25 will be competitive. I hope I can keep my position in the second session."

Renault's engineering chiefs know they have every reason to feel confident about the team's continued competitive form, although they are taking nothing for granted before the second qualifying session.

"The grid tomorrow will be extremely close: the first ten cars are covered by little more than a second," explained head of engine operations Denis Chevrier. "In these conditions, every details counts, and we were pleased that our technical programmes ran very smoothly this morning, without problems.

"If we can keep our positions tomorrow, we know that we are well prepared for the race, and that should allow us to look to get at least one car on the podium."