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Alonso may have to reassess Fisichella threat

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-03-20 13:51

KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 (Reuters) - Fernando Alonso may have to reassess Giancarlo Fisichella's threat to his world title after the Italian led a Renault one-two in Malaysia at the weekend.

Alonso said that finishing second at Sepang was a better result for him than the win in the first race at Bahrain because McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen failed to score and Ferrari's Michael Schumacher had to be satisfied with sixth place.

"It is good to have them at the back and to open the gap quite a big chunk here in Malaysia like I did last year in the first races," said the Spaniard, who has a seven-point lead at the top of the standings over Schumacher and Jenson Button.

"I don't consider Fisi to be my opponent," added Alonso. "I think that we work together as we did today and we need to score points for our team. Only in the last part of the championship, in the last two or three races, will we be fighting for sure as opponents."

Fisichella, now fourth in the title race eight points behind his team mate, said he would try and change Alonso's mind about that, starting with the April 2 showdown in Australia where he won in the first race of last season.

"I've got fantastic memories and I feel comfortable there," the 33-year-old said. "We can do well there. The package is really good, the potential is there so we can fight for a win in Australia."

Schumacher and his team mate Felipe Massa's races were hampered at Sepang when they had to have their engines changed, losing 10 places on the grid as a result. The seven-times world champion hoped there would be fewer problems in Australia.

"This track has always been one of the most difficult for us," the German said. "Melbourne is a completely different circuit and I hope it will be better suited to our (car)."

ENGINE WORRIES

Ferrari and their clients Red Bull were not the only teams experiencing engine problems with Honda having to replace one engine and Williams, Toyota and BMW suffering failures of the V8s introduced for this season.