Fernando Alonso is confident that he can make up for his French Grand Prix disappointment with a better showing at this weekend's British round at
Silverstone.
The Spaniard planted his
Renault on the second row for the first of the company's two 'home' races a fortnight ago, but was unable to uphold that promise and faded to eighth - behind rookie team-mate
Nelsinho Piquet - in the race.
Acknowledging that Magny-Cours was probably not the best circuit at which to lose ground early on, the double world champion was still sufficiently encouraged by facets of the R28's performance in France to be optimistic for Silverstone.
"After the qualifying session [at Magny-Cours], I thought that, for the first time this year, we could aim for the podium, so I was understandably disappointed with the final result," Alonso admitted, "My race didn't start well as I lost some ground and, after that, I was not able to find the pace I had shown on Saturday. The car had good straight-line speed, but I still couldn't make any progress. I scored a point, which is something, and I'm determined to do better this coming weekend.
"I am positive because we saw in Magny-Cours that we are making progress, although we know there is still a lot to do. We did three days of testing at Silverstone last week with Nelson, when we worked on the set-up of the car, tested some new parts, evaluated the tyres, so we now have a good feeling for the track. That will certainly help for the first practice session and for improving the car throughout the weekend."
Technical director Bob Bell shares Alonso's optimism for this weekend's race, which takes place just an hour from the team's UK base at Enstone, ensuring strong support in the stands.
