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Renault must hope for perfect weekend, says Alonso

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-28 13:56

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium - Renault will need luck and a perfect weekend if they are to repeat last year's late season success, double world champion Fernando Alonso said on Thursday.

Renault's Formula One driver Fernando Alonso of Spain walks in the paddock ahead of the weekend's Belgian F1 Grand Prix in Spa Francorchamps August 27, 2009. [Agencies]

The Spaniard won in Singapore and Japan to finish 2008 fifth overall after his team had been well off the pace earlier in the campaign.

"Last year it was difficult to predict our final part of the championship and this year it is also difficult to predict how it is going to be for us and the other teams," he told reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix.

"Maybe last year we had a better opportunity because the car was improving with every race, and this year it is not the case.

"The 2009 Renault is already finished, and the (work on the) 2010 car has already started, so there will be little improvement from now on and so more difficult to win races," added the 28-year-old.

Renault have yet to appear on the podium in 2009, with Brazilian Nelson Piquet already shown the door after failing to score a point in 10 races, but Alonso qualified on pole position in Hungary and has twice finished fifth.

"In the last three races we were very competitive. If we had had some luck one of those weekends, and we had maximised our opportunities, then we'd be talking about podiums," he said.

"But we didn't maximise the opportunities, so from now on we need perfect weekends."