Formula One news

Start of European season key for Alonso

Fernando Alonso has stressed that the start of Formula One's European season in Spain next weekend will be the first phase of an extremely important few races as his team continues its mission to attack for the title. Renault, currently fifth in the standings, is keen to exploit the performance of a new updated R29 package.

"I think the next three races are quite important," Alonso said. "I think more or less all the teams will bring all the big parts to the next three races; some will put everything into Barcelona, some of them will have something in Monaco and the last couple of teams will put what they have onto the cars in Turkey. So after that, we will see who is challenging for the championship, who is challenging for podiums and who is completely out of everything."

Alonso knows the importance of the next three Grands Prix

The latter of which the Spaniard will certainly not be hoping for as his home race approaches, for which he qualified second last year only to retire during the Grand Prix. "I think two private teams are leading now, but they are big teams," the former double World Champion continued. "We cannot forget that - sometimes we call them small teams, but they are not so small; Red Bull and Brawn have the resources, maybe even more than Renault and with more facilities than Renault."

Oviedo's Alonso also expressed his disappointment over the fact that it is the engine customers of Renault and McLaren which lead the way. "This is something that we need to be aware of, and it is a shame for Renault and Mercedes that they spend the money," he said. "They keep developing the engines and then give it to Brawn and Red Bull, and they fight for the championship - but that's the way it is."

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