By role
January 15 2004

Spanish driver Fernando Alonso is looking forward to the 2004 season where he expects to improve the results of the successful 2003 season in which he won a race, set two pole position and finished 3 times on the podium. Today, Alonso was in Madrid at the official presentation of the new razors from Gillette, one of his new personal sponsors.

The Spaniard talked about his goals for the new season:
“This year my goal is to improve on the results of last year, though you never know what will happen. That’s why Formula 1 is so attractive, there are many unknowns, specially before the season starts and is hard to guess on the final results. For Renault the objective is to fight for the Championship in 2005 and though we did not expect to win a race in 2003 we have to be as positive as possible and fight as always”. He added. “Last year was quite good, but this year and try to improve. Some more victories and podiums, and even to try to get in the fight with MacLaren, Williams and Ferrari. We have to give the best on the track and be as competitive as possible.”

Alonso has been considered by many Spanish journalists as the best Spanish sportman of the year. He has also won several prestigious award from international magazines as Autosport:
“To be considered the best or to receive an award motivates me even more, is a satisfaction and helps you work better, to train harder. These awards have surprised me, because I believe there has been people that have done even more effort in their sport. An track athlete or cyclist deserve it more for their continued effort, specially cyclist that stay 6 hours on their bikes in each stage.”

Alonso also talked about the innovative design of the new Williams FW26:
“On November we tried a similar nose to the one of the Williams team and we did not see any radical improvement and therefore we abandoned the idea. However, I think we are going to try again on the wind tunnel a similar solution but on the new car has not yet been adopted. I personally do not like a nose like that. Williams is not consider as the best in chassis development. They have a good engine, but their chassis and their aero are not the best so to copy them will not take us many places.” He added.

Alonso also feels that Schumacher reign may see an end this season and his main bets are Raikkonen and Montoya:
“Michael did not have an easy season. Rivals are each year stronger and both McLaren and Williams have showed this winter that are very strong and I think their two lead drivers, Montoya and Raikkonen are the ones with the best chance to get the tittle
He hopes though that his Renault R24 can also pose a challenge:

“After the tests on the wind tunnel I think we can continue to benefit from our good aerodynamics as last year. The car does not change much on that matter, but until we do not see it with the rest on the track we can not tell.”