Renault driver Fernando Alonso has rued his start in last weekend’s Bahrain grand prix where he slipped back from his seventh placed grid slot rather than get a good clean getaway and vault up the grid like several of his rivals. From that point on he knew he had his work cut out for him and a single point was all he managed to salvage from the afternoon.

Here he reflects on the fourth round of the 2009 championship….

Fernando, tell us about your race...
In some ways it was quite an uneventful race for me, which was pretty much decided after the first corner. I didn't get a good start like I did in Malaysia and I therefore lost ground and dropped down to eighth. After that I knew it would be a difficult race.

Why did the first lap determine your race?
All the teams are so closely matched this season and most of the cars around me were running similar strategies. We therefore had to rely on a mistake or a retirement from the cars ahead if we were going to move forward in the race. We were the eighth fastest car and we finished eighth and so the race reflects our level of competitiveness at the moment. However, it's a bit frustrating as we could probably have scored more points if I had made a better start.

Was it a positive weekend overall?
Of course because we scored a point and finishing regularly in the points is our priority at the moment. However, we need to score more points each weekend and so I'm a bit disappointed with the result. We now have two weeks to improve the car; to find performance and to move step-by-step towards the front. The team is working hard and we are moving in the right direction so we just need to continue like this.