"To be honest it is not a surprise that Ferrari are in front of us at the beginning of the 2007 championship," the Spaniard told reporters at Sepang on Thursday.

McLaren's Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain talks outside his paddock ahead of the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix in Sepang April 5, 2007.[Reuters]

"A lot of things changed (for McLaren) in the winter, a completely new car with new designs, completely new engine basically, new tyres and two new drivers.

"It is quite normal and obvious that we cannot be 100 per cent as Ferrari as they have had continuity in the team," continued Alonso, who was runner-up to Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the Melbourne season-opener.

"It is nothing new that Ferrari are stronger than everybody else at the start of the season. It is not a surprise that they come here as favourites again and ready to win.

"For this grand prix we will see a similar picture as Australia with Ferrari in front of everybody.

"What we have to do is close the gap. We don't know how much it will be in this race. We saw in Australia that it was seven or eight tenths," he added.

"If it rains here it won't keep wet for all the race. It will dry quite quickly and maybe it is a difficult race, changing tyres four or five times depending on the conditions.

"In that mess anyone can take advantage so it is up to us to be clever enough to take the advantage."

Alonso, who tested new parts at McLaren's Woking factory in England last week while British rookie team-mate Lewis Hamilton tested at Sepang, is confident McLaren will close the gap eventually, however.

"F1 teams now develop the car quickly. If you are lucky and you find something that the others don't have, you have an advantage immediately," he said.

"Maybe next week we have a fantastic result with something, maybe two months. Who knows. Everybody is trying to do the same but McLaren has the potential to do it quicker.

"I have been in England working with the team a little bit on the simulator. We had some new things that they put on the track in the test and we improved the car a little bit.

"How much I don't know but hopefully it will be enough to get on the podium again. I think that is the more realistic target, to keep scoring points which will be very important for the championship at the end of the season."

Alonso joined McLaren after winning titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006, saying he needed a new challenge.

"I feel the same," he said. "I want to be in the car every day and have very high motivation. The three weeks between Melbourne and here seem very, very long for me.

"Last year it was too short and you were always a little bit tired being in the car."