Régie's qualifying form in Spain a sign of things to come, former champions insist.

Fernando Alonso was left to reflect on a nearly-but-not-quite moment at the end of the qualifying session for his home race in Barcelona this weekend - after storming to pole position in the dying seconds of the session, only to see defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen agonisingly steal it away from him again in much the same manner as the Finn stole his crown at the end of last year.

The man from Oviedo has been in inspired form throughout the weekend, lapping third-quickest in Friday afternoon practice and then again on Saturday morning, as Renault's raft of revisions to its underperforming R28 seemed to be taking the desired effect. That notwithstanding, few expected Alonso to trouble the front-runners in qualifying - but trouble them is exactly what he did.

The 26-year-old lapped third-fastest in Q1 and fourth-quickest in Q2, before a staggering final effort in Q3 saw him storm to the top spot - to the evident delight of his thousands of partisan supporters thronging the Circuit de Catalunya this weekend. Though he would only hold onto it for a fleeting moment before Raikkonen's last-ditch lap beat his own by a scant nine hundredths of a second, the front row of the grid - ahead of both drivers from his former team McLaren-Mercedes - was nevertheless a magnificent and immensely satisfying achievement.

"I can't be happier than I am now," Alonso enthused afterwards. "It's unbelievable, difficult to describe. [It is] the best day for me of the 2008 season, and I hope there are many more like this to come. The team has been doing a tremendous job since Bahrain.

"We have had a difficult and disappointing start to the season, and today is the first step ahead. We expected to be stronger here, and we have an aggressive approach for the races to come in order to return to the level we should be at. It is not the time to relax - instead we are even more motivated to work hard to get where we need to be."

Team-mate Nelsinho Piquet completed Renault's joy, by similarly making it through to the top ten shoot-out for the first time in his fledgling F1 career to-date. The young Brazilian rookie lapped fifth-quickest in Q1 and eighth-fastest in Q2, before ultimately winding up tenth on the starting grid for Sunday's race.

"We have worked well with the car this weekend," the 22-year-old affirmed, "and after a great Q2 I am happy to reach Q3 for the first time. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that we could have done better.

"The gaps between the cars are very small, which means we can expect a very competitive race on a circuit where it is difficult to overtake, but I am determined to have a great race tomorrow and to attack to the maximum."

The Régie's executive director of engineering Pat Symonds was in similarly buoyant spirits following qualifying, whilst hinting that Alonso and Piquet are on somewhat different fuel strategies for the grand prix.

"A great result today," the 53-year-old underlined, "which vindicates all the hard work that has gone on back at base in the first few months of the year. It's great to see both cars in the top ten, and Fernando's position at his home circuit is particularly welcome.

"Let's not forget the great job that Nelson has done, though - he's been with Fernando all the way through the weekend and makes it a great team result. Obviously there's some strategy involved - I don't think it would be any secret to say that Fernando and Nelson are not on the same strategy.

"We really have improved the car, made it a lot nicer to drive and a lot more competitive, but now we want to see some good, solid results. This means a lot to us, but Sunday is when it really counts."

"We now have a better idea of our performance relative to the other teams," added head of engine track operations Denis Chevrier, "and the result is one that the team can be satisfied with. We knew as early as the start of the session that Fernando was in a position to get the most from his car, and we worked hard to give him a car that would match his talent. There is still a lot we need to do to progress, but this is already a first step and that is encouraging.

"As for Nelson, he had a super qualifying session and was very solid in Q2. It remains to be seen what will happen tomorrow in the race, but the gaps between the teams are very small and so we need to seize our opportunities to try and score some points."