Symonds: Alonso has faith in Renault

That is the view of Renault's director of engineering Pat Symonds, who thinks that Alonso is fully fired up once again after a trying start to the year.

"In the early part of the season he was getting a little bit frustrated, but we made a huge leap forward in performance for Barcelona and I think the car did become more enjoyable to drive," said Symonds.

"So... I think it is fair to say that he is enjoying his racing, and I think that he has faith that the car will continue to improve."

Symonds believes that the team can start delivering a large haul of points from each race, even though their recent efforts have been frustrated by mechanical problems and accidents.

Looking back at the first six races of the year, Symonds said: "The most positive thing is that we've shown our rate of development can exceed that of the other teams. We've pulled ourselves up the field in the first third of the season and there's every reason to think that we can keep improving.

"I'm not saying that we will be challenging for pole position and wins, but I certainly think that we've got plans in place that should allow us to out-develop those around us, which should help us get closer to challenging the BMWs and the McLarens in the next part of the season."

Alonso himself says he is eager to return to action in Montreal after throwing away the chance of a good result in Monaco in a collision with Nick Heidfeld in Monaco.

"We were not able to achieve what could have been possible in normal conditions, and so it was disappointing," he said about the race in Monte Carlo.

"As we are not fighting for the championship, we tried to take our chances and that meant we took some risks, although they did not pay us back. But now I am looking forward to getting back in the car this weekend to see what we can achieve in Montreal, which is a very different circuit."

He added: "Since the Spanish Grand Prix we seem to have been on the pace, and so should be in Canada as well, and we will do everything to try and make sure that we are."