Alonso would settle for second at Imola

Although Alonso has kicked off the season in near perfect style, with two wins and a second place, he is under no illusions that Renault's rivals are not that far behind.

And with the Spaniard claiming he will be happy to even finish runner-up at Imola this weekend, he thinks that Renault must ensure they get the best results they can if they are not able to take victory.

"It won't be easy to win in Imola too; I'd be happy to end up in the top two," he was quoted as saying in Gazzetta dello Sport. "The most important thing is to get consistently on the podium, a bit like it happened last year when I managed to get up there 15 times.

"So we must be concentrated and avoid making mistakes, and to try to manage racing weekends in an extremely professional way. You can't always get ten points; sometimes eight or six are okay.

"I'm fairly convinced that our slight advantage is destined to disappear like it happened last year. What we must do is to grab with both hands any opportunity we're given: to win whenever possible and to accept when the others are faster than us. To always give 100% on the driving side so that you push the rivals to the limit."

Alonso is convinced that the advantage that Renault have shown in the first three races of the season will not be maintained - and in particular he fears that Ferrari and Michael Schumacher are stronger than their recent race outings suggest.

"McLaren have always been extremely good with this, but Renault are working very hard too," added Alonso. "Ferrari this year started very well in Bahrain, where we beat them by a whisker, and then they had two difficult races.

"But I'm convinced that when Ferrari are on favourable tracks, like Sakhir, and have good tyres, they will be fast and Schumacher will get back to winning ways because his motivations are intact.

"For me he remains one of the favourites for the championship because he knows how to be consistent. And to beat Michael is nicer than to beat the others. Schumacher is known in every corner of the world. If you go to China or to Africa and you say 'Michael Schumacher', they know who he is."

And Alonso has also said he expects teammate Giancarlo Fisichella to be a threat throughout the season, even though he has opened up a large advantage in the title chase.

"The team put me and Giancarlo, who is second in the championship by the way, in the same conditions. Some times he will be in front, as it happened in Malaysia, and some times it will be me. It will depend a lot on Friday testing, where we learn how to set up the car."