Ferrari pair cagey on Alonso threat.

Neither Kimi Raikkonen or Felipe Massa would be drawn on whether they consider Fernando Alonso and Renault a legitimate threat for victory in the Spanish Grand Prix, after the local hero qualified between them and on the front row.

Transcending recent performances, which have seen him struggling for points in the opening three races of the year, Alonso used the heavily-revised R28 to post the second fastest time in final qualifying, although questions remain about the strategy that the team may have used to get him so far up the grid. The Spaniard would, naturally, not be drawn on how much fuel he was carrying on his fastest run, and the Ferrari drivers admitted that it was hard to gauge the reality of the threat.

"It's very difficult to say," polewinner Kimi Raikkonen commented, "I think we will see tomorrow after the start, at the first pit-stop, how much fuel everybody has, but it's too early to say now. There are many things that can happen to us, he's on the front row, so they have a good chance to win it, and to challenge us. For sure, they are in a strong position."

Team-mate Massa suggested that 'Fernando knows better than us how much his car improves, if he has a good car in his hands he can fight for victory' but insisted that his third place performance was also not reflective of his potential for the race.

"I think, in a qualifying like that, you can see the difference in the lap times," he pointed out, "If you don't put exactly every sector together, you can lose two positions in a very easy way. If you look, I did my best lap at my first attempt when I did a perfect lap, but then, on the second try, I couldn't put the lap together, so I stayed with my lap time from the first attempt. But I was heavier on fuel, for sure...."

The Brazilian admitted that, with times so close on a circuit that every team knows well from thousands of miles of testing in the build-up to the race, his final position could actually have been worse.

"The tendency is to improve the lap time, but I couldn't do a perfect lap at the second attempt and lost two positions," he confirmed, "In a way, though, I was even lucky, because I was very, very close to the guys behind, so I could easily have been fifth. I had a little bit of wheelspin in turn seven and also in the slow corners, but that's the way it is. In competition like today, in all the sessions, we saw that, if you lose a tenth, you can lose one or two positions. I put a lap together at the wrong moment, but we have a good car."

Raikkonen has not enjoyed the best of luck in Barcelona, apart from his 2005 victory with McLaren, but will take comfort from the fact that the last seven Spanish Grand Prix polewinners have gone on to win the race.

"Last year, we couldn't finish the race but, for sure, we should have good speed in the race as long as we get a clean start," he conceded, "We are confident in ourselves and the team, but we need a good clean first few corners and then have to try to maximise our position and do the best job we can. But this is the best place for sure to try and win the race."

The Finn may face an immediate challenge from the man alongside him on the front row, as Alonso refused to rule out a repeat of the robust challenge that effectively cost him a chance of winning his home event last season.

"We will see," he smiled, "It's only Saturday afternoon, so we will see tomorrow. It all depends on how the first fifty or a hundred metres are. You feel straight away if you have had a good start or a bad start. It depends on your position after these two hundred metres, and you have different targets for the first corner. I'll be on the wrong side [of the grid], so maybe I'll arrive in the first corner and I'm fighting for fifth. It's difficult to know how it will be tomorrow....."