Alonso believes in Renault

Fernando, the Malaysian Grand Prix race was eventful for you. Can you tell us…
I had a great start to the race. From ninth place, I moved up to third place after the first two corners demonstrating the benefit of KERS. But we were loaded with gas and it was difficult to keep my position. When it started to rain, I went off the track before I could change tires. Afterwards it was a matter of having the right tires at the right time but it was very difficult to predict the intensity of the rain. Stopping the race was the right decision, it would have been too dangerous to continue in such conditions.

You said the team needed to improve the performance of the car. Do you trust him?
Absolutely. I have confidence in the team and we saw last year that they can fight to come back and improve the performance of the car. It's still early in the season and everyone is working hard to develop the R29 to be more competitive in the next races. I'm disappointed that I didn't score any points in Malaysia when my goal is to score in every race this season. However, it is difficult to change the car before Europe but we have already learned a lot in these first two races of the season and we have certainly made progress in Malaysia. We still need to take a step forward in China and I hope we can score points.

Are you looking forward to Shanghai and what is your view on the circuit?
It’s definitely one of the circuits that I like. It is a bit similar to Sepang with fast corners, long straights and slower sections. We must therefore find a compromise and ensure that we have a fairly low downforce level in the high-speed sections and also speed in the straights. I won the race in Shanghai in 2005 when Renault won the constructors' championship. So I have very good memories. I also like being in China, the fans are very enthusiastic.