Alonso optimistic of strong race

Ferrari's upgrades could catapult Alonso right to the front

By Sarah Holt BBC Sport in Valencia

Fernando Alonso says he is "optimistic" that his Ferrari team will be even more competitive at Sunday's European Grand Prix in Valencia.

The Spaniard finished third last time out in Canada after battling throughout with winner Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.

Ferrari have a major upgrade for this race, which McLaren say is a "concern".

Alonso said: "We are happy with the job done in the last two weeks. We arrive here with a good package but very calm about our expectations."

The 28-year-old won the first race of the season but since then Ferrari have slipped back in competitiveness compared to McLaren and Red Bull.

McLaren drivers Hamilton and Jenson Button are first and second in the drivers' championship but the fastest car of the season has been the Red Bull.

Their drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber have been on pole position for seven of the eight races so far but reliability problems have hit their campaign.

We know other teams were not watching TV in this last two weeks, so everyone will bring updates here but hopefully ours are a little bit better than the others Fernando Alonso

Webber is third in the championship and Vettel fifth - sandwiching Alonso, who is fourth, the equivalent of one third place behind leader Hamilton.

Alonso tried the new Ferrari at a filming day at the team's Fiorano test track last week but was cagey about his impressions of how big a step forward it was.

"My feeling was very good," he said. "I was driving behind a car with cameras so it was very good at 60km/h (40mph) a lap so it was very stable!

"I think tomorrow [in practice] we'll have a better answer. We expect some step in the car, a little bit quicker but all the other teams will bring new parts here.

"The most important thing is to confirm that we are competitive here as we did in Canada and to keep improving the car.

"Silverstone, Hockenheim, Budapest (the next three races) - it's not one evolution in the car in the year and you stop. This is a job we need to keep doing until Abu Dhabi so there is a long way to go. But we are optimistic."

He added: "We've been improving the car every race more or less so it's a matter of how much there is still to improve, to see a clear step ahead, a step forward. I think we are optimistic.

"We know other teams were not watching TV in this last two weeks, so everyone will bring updates here but hopefully ours are a little bit better than the others."

For Valencia, Ferrari have fitted their own version of a performance feature known as a "blown rear end" that rival teams believe has accounted for much of the advantage shown by the pace-setting Red Bull this season.

The feature allows exhausts to exit low at the rear of the car, improving the airflow around the tyres and through the diffuser and creating more downforce.

Renault and Mercedes have their own versions of the system in Valencia for the first time, although Mercedes are not expected to use theirs in the race.

Teams believe the feature is worth at least half a second a lap in terms of performance.

Alonso said: "It'll be interesting to see how this race goes. We've been better at some circuits and some circuits we've had more problems so it's been up and down for the team performance in the last couple of races so hopefully we can continue the performance we saw in Montreal. The line that put us on a competitive level fighting with the McLarens and Red Bulls."

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