"I think we made a step forward in terms of competitiveness, but we will see this weekend what the result is," he commented, "I think that, last week, it was difficult to read times as it was a mix of slick tyres and more or less fuel between the teams. We just tried to concentrate on our performance and our car, and I think we gained a couple of tenths. Now we will see if it is able to [get] us easy into Q3 and not have the problems we had in the first few races - and, hopefully, regularly get in the points.
"We had what we were expecting [from the test] and we are quite happy with the car and the improvement we did. But, as I said, maybe we will not be happy anymore when we see the others and [find] they are quick as well. I think we did a god job, and probably the others teams did a good job as well, so it is just a matter of which team took the biggest step. We are optimistic we can improve, but we must improve what we did in the first few races."
Alonso confirmed that the R28 was using a revised damper design - one delayed because of the need to ensure there were no conflicts with
McLaren's similar device after technological data was passed between engineers in 2007 - but insists that it will only bring the
Renault into line with its rivals, rather than pushing it ahead of them.
"We are using a different concept of suspension, but most of the teams are using it already, so we just will be similar to everybody from this race," he confirmed, "Things will be very difficult this year.
"It is true that, every time I come here to my home grand prix, I had always the possibility to fight for the pole position and fight for the victory and, if not, the podium was a real possibility always. This year, I don't think it is a real possibility, just a dream - as it was in the first few races.
