Fernando Alonso believes Renault have the potential to once again fight for victories this season, but admitted it will be difficult to replicate his fourth-place finish in Melbourne at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
The Spaniard rejoined his former team in December last year after an ill-fated spell with McLaren ended in acrimonious circumstances.
But whereas Alonso left Renault as a double world champion having led them to the constructors' title in both 2005 and 2006, the French outfit are now languishing amongst the midfield runners after only picking up 51 points last term.
The 26-year-old did secure an unexpected five points in the opening race of the season at Albert Park but that owed more to the fact only seven cars finished the 58-lap contest rather than a true measure of his car's pace.
But while conceding there is still some way to go for Renault before they can even think about challenging McLaren, Ferrari and even BMW Sauber, Alonso was cautiously upbeat they will become more competitive as the season wears on.
"Melbourne was good but obviously we were lucky with that situation," he said.
"I would like to have wheel-to-wheel racing with McLaren or Ferrari in a normal race so that's the target for the season and in Australia, we didn't have that. We were too far behind.
"But I'm optimistic, it's only the first race of a championship so at the start of the year you are always optimistic, there are a lot of races to come, a lot of time.
"I really think we will close that gap and improve the car quite a lot. In Formula One, nothing is 100% certain. We will improve but other people will improve as well. It's up to us to do a better job."
The situation in which Alonso now finds himself is similar to his first two seasons at Renault, where his unquestionable talent helped lay the foundations for subsequent success.
And the Spaniard insisted he is relishing the challenge of once again restoring the team to the pinnacle of Formula One.
"It is the same as in 2003 and 2004 - we need to fight and close the gap," he added.
"The races are a little bit more interesting for me because you are racing in the middle of the group and there are a lot of things to do, to fight for from lap one, and many things that are going on.
"For me, I guess the whole season will be like this. I'm enjoying this new challenge and feel good.
"Of course there is a lot of work to do as soon as possible, the team, me, we all need to improve and close the gap and I'm part of that team.
"So that's the first thing we have to do. We need to improve the car, we need to work better and we will be closer to the top three."
source : www.sportinglife.com
