• Indian Grand Prix

Win is possible with top four grid slot - Alonso

Fernando Alonso had an engine problem in FP1 but said it did not set him back © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Indian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso believes a qualifying slot on the front two rows of the grid will allow him to challenge for victory at the Indian Grand Prix.

His team-mate Felipe Massa set the fastest lap during Friday practice at the brand new Buddh International Circuit, as the Ferraris occupied two of the top three places on the timing screens. Alonso is confident Ferrari will have a decent race pace, but said the key to success will be qualifying higher than fourth - after spending the last three races off the front two rows.

"I think we have to wait and see how the qualifying goes," he said when asked if victory is possible. "Today was a good day in terms of performance and we are in the top three with both cars. We have no big issues with the balance of the car and everything is working fine. We are more optimistic today than we were maybe yesterday, but we know the potential of the Red Bulls and the McLarens and we know that tomorrow in qualifying they will be strong and they will be fighting for pole position.

"Knowing that, I think our strongest point is always our race pace on Sunday, so we need to concentrate on that and have a good qualifying to be on the first two rows of the grid. If we do that then on Sunday we can have a very strong pace."

Alonso completed just four laps in the morning session after his car came to a halt in sector two with an engine problem, but he said it did not hamper his setup work.

"I don't know exactly what happened, they keep investigating," he said. "We had to switch off the car and we replaced the engine and put another one in for the afternoon. It didn't affect the rest of the weekend due to the poor track conditions in the first practice. I think we missed maybe 15 or 20 laps experience, but it was 15 or 20 laps running off the pace so it's not a big issue."

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