Fernando Alonso has admitted that he will be doing a lot of waiting this season, but remains hopeful of being able to put on a good show for his ardent fans at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The
Renault driver remains at the centre of speculation that he will ditch the Enstone
equipe for 2009, especially as it continues to struggle to match the likes of
Ferrari and
McLaren for pace this season.
The Spanish Grand Prix, as the start of the European season, should see improvements made to the R28 but, as Alonso admits, he will have to wait and see what the
regie's rivals have come up with in the three weeks since Bahrain.
"After the first three races, it was clear that we were not at the level of the leading teams," the double world champion accepted, "We were missing some speed and the car was sometimes unstable in the quick corners and under braking.
"[Bahrain] was difficult, but we were prepared for that. Our qualifying performance had been a pleasant surprise, but we knew that our race pace would not allow us to achieve much better than tenth place, so we did not score any points for the first time this year. We are missing some speed and that is what we hope to improve with the latest updates that we have coming.
"The team has made big efforts with improvements to the aerodynamics and with the level of mechanical grip. We had the chance to work through these on the track at Barcelona last week, and the first results proved encouraging. But it remains to be seen how much our competitors will have improved as well."
Aware that he will have huge support at the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend, Alonso is determined to make the most of what he has available to him to at least get back into the top eight at a venue the entire field knows very well.
