Fernando Alonso Car Quotations

I am a little bit surprised to be on pole position but the car was perfect.

I was hoping that it would feel like the R25 to drive, because that was such a nice car for the drivers. The good news is that it does. It is easy to drive, the long runs seem consistent and we didn't have any mechanical problems. This is only the first January test with a brand new car. Taking that into account, I think we are in a strong position.

We don't have the quickest car but we're taking the opportunities McLaren is giving to us. Tomorrow I hope to have a good start and can even think to win the race.

We have had an important and productive week. We made good progress for the first race, and now I want to see how we will perform in race conditions against the competition. I am feeling confident, the car is performing well and the team is more motivated than ever.

At the beginning I had a better car, in the middle of the season he had a better car with more mechanical problems than me, so I won the drivers championship a little bit before the end.

Straight away I felt OK, good balance in the car and I was able to push straight away. It looks good for qualifying tomorrow and we'll just have to see how the competition do.

There's nothing new on our car since Australia.

I know that the R26 is a highly competitive car and it can only be my goal to defend my title.

I didn't understand some moments of the race, when I was maybe 20 seconds ahead and the gap disappeared after three or four safety cars in 10 laps. But I think the car was perfect. There wasn't any risk of losing victory at any time so I was quite confident.

It was my only opportunity to win the race. I was going for it. I really knew the car was faster than Michael's with the tires, especially the first laps.

The good news for me is that the new car was still easy to drive. The performance felt good, although this is the first test with a brand new car and there are still lots of areas to improve.

The tyre change doesn't help Michelin. We maybe will lose one of our advantages. The car is a little slow because of the new rules.

The car feels like it did in winter testing. It is comfortable to drive and consistent, so I am quite happy with our situation. It was a special moment to go out on the track with the No. 1 on the car.

The car was perfect, ... Tomorrow I am full of confidence for all the team.

It means we are extremely competitive. It shows we are the car to beat.

It is very difficult to win a championship, and you need a lot of things around you to have the chance. Last year, I started the season dreaming of, maybe, winning one race and getting regular podiums, but we won the title. In 2006, I know we have a competitive car in the R26, so my only goal is to repeat the title.

It was really, really good. The car performed extremely well again in the race, we were very competitive from the first lap,