Briatore: Renault on Heavy Fuel Load

It was Alonso's fourth pole of the season and second in a row after France last weekend. The Spaniard, who leads Kimi Raikkonen by 24 points in the Formula One standings with nine races remaining, led that race from start to finish.

And Briatore is now confident Alonso will be able to repeat the feat, claiming he is carrying a lot of fuel onboard.

"We have a heavy fuel load, maybe more than anyone, so it's more than we hoped for, but I have to say that Fernando did an incredible lap," Briatore told Italian network RAI.

Alonso's chances of victory were boosted when Raikkonen was forced to change his engine for the second consecutive race, dropping 10 places on the grid.

Briatore, however, is still cautious about claiming the Championship is in the bag.

"Well, there's still some way to go, and we haven't finished the race yet," Briatore added. "If you stop at one race [the others] make up seven-eight points on you. You saw what happened at Indianapolis: after that the Championship was open again.

"So we need to be very careful, go Sunday by Sunday. Obviously to start on the front row, with a new engine, with Fisichella in the top six, with a different strategy from Fernando, I think it's a result for the team."

The team boss, like Alonso before, claimed he was not expecting Renault would be so competitive at Silverstone.

"Here in England we weren't expecting it," he added. "One of the races we expected to have problems with was this one. But from Magny Cours we've done an incredible amount of work on the car and here we see the results of it. One month ago in testing we were three seconds slower than today."

Briatore also claimed McLaren are under pressure after their disappointing mechanical failures have cost them dear over the last seven days.

"Obviously they are under pressure, and the fact that for the last ten days we've been saying we'll be playing defense here, made them come here convinced they would break us in half, but they didn't manage yet," Briatore said.

"Tomorrow is another day, we'll see what happens. Today let's enjoy this pole by Fernando and Fisichella in the top three rows. Great result for the team."