Cautious regarding Honda
Fernando Alonso said today in Bahrain Thursday that he wants nothing less than a repeat of his drivers` world title this year but tipped Honda to surprise this year.

But Formula One`s youngest champion, 24, who won seven times last season believes Honda, and drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, will be amongst his Renault team`s title challengers, despite having not won a race since John Surtees triumphed in the 1968 Italian Grand Prix.

"I have the number one on my car, so it`s a dream come true, and I think we will start strong, but it will be very difficult to repeat our success from last year," Alonso said. "I will try my best though. It will be an interesting season I think, we will have competitors for sure; McLaren, Honda, Ferrari, but I think that I will have more confidence now that I have won already one world championship."

Kimi Raikkonen was Alonso`s closest challenger for the world title last year, winning seven races on his way to the runner-up spot. But the McLaren driver agrees that Honda will be strong and says his own pre-season preparations have been dented by a less-than productive winter test programme which has seen the British team out-paced by many of their rivals.

"I don`t think we are exactly where we want to be but we are in a much better position than we were one month ago," said Raikkonen.
"I think we have been quite quick sometimes, but Renault and Honda might be quicker than us but it really depends if we get everything sorted out, in which case we might be able to fight for wins. But we will just do the best that we can and see where we end up."

Williams` Australian driver Mark Webber thinks the Japanese-owned, British-based squad will be dark horses for the drivers` and constructors` championships. Webber believes the changes in qualifying regulations, which put a premium on fuel and tyre use on cars, will benefit the teams who finished outside the top five last year and therefore will run a third car in Friday practice sessions this year.

"Having a third car will be such a huge advantage this year and I think that will mean Honda in particular will benefit with the work Anthony Davidson will do because it will mean Jenson and Rubens don`t have to use up their fuel and tyres in practice," he said. "They`ll win races for sure this year. As for who will come out on top, I don`t really care, but I`ll say Jenson because he`s already had three years with them and his motivation is probably higher."
Honda themselves have been the stars of winter testing since debuting their new RA106 at Barcelona in January for race drivers Button and Barrichello. Button begins his fourth season with the team formerly known as BAR and is quietly confident of challenging for the world championship, despite having failed to win in his 100 Grand Prix.

He believes a sustained challenge is the key. The Briton said: "Definitely I`d like to challenge for the championship - it`s what me and Rubens are here to do, but if we`re going to do that, we have to be competitive from the first race onwards. It will be difficult to beat Renault. Obviously they`re the champions so they will start as favourites. We`ll just have to be on it right away."

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