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Alonso downplays talk of a Monaco surprise

Tuesday 13th May 2008

Fernando Alonso has downplayed talk of an upset at next weekend's Monaco GP, saying the victory will go to one of the top two teams.

So far this season on McLaren and Ferrari have clinched race wins, while BMW have often joined them on the podium. However, with Monaco being a completely different track to any other on the calendar there has been some talk of a midfield runner fighting for the victory.

Alonso, though, has downplayed suggestions of a surprise winner.

"That's what we always think when going to Monaco or at least we all think Monaco is so different that things will change, but in the end it's always a McLaren or a Ferrari winning or Renault like in 2006," the double World Champion told Autosport.

"The cars that have been winning all season arrive at Monaco and win too so in the end we see less surprises than we initially expect."

As for Renault's chances around the streets of the Principality, Alonso concedes it could depend more on how their rivals perform than on how much Renault have improved.

"In Barcelona we maybe were a little bit closer to the leading teams and we could have fought for one of the six first places," he said.

"Here (in Turkey) we were defending ourselves from Red Bull and a little bit further from the top. It will be like this for a few races.

"Let's hope we can take a step forward and get closer to the top, but if Williams, Toyota or Red Bull improve a lot they would catch us so you are always fighting, but let's see if we can keep on moving forward."

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