The Spanish driver has won at the principality for the last two years, although this season his chances look a lot slimmer as Renault have been unable to match the pace of Ferrari, BMW or McLaren.

But Alonso reckons that Monte Carlo could be a performance equaliser and he is hoping to achieve a strong result.

“We have progressed, but we are still behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW,” the Spaniard said. “Even though Monaco is a circuit where the driver can really make the difference, a good car will always be an advantage and makes things easier.

This will be an interesting race, especially with the loss of traction control this year, and should provide a lot of incidents. In addition, the problems that McLaren was having in the slow corners in Turkey doesn’t bode well for them in Monaco.

The Brazilian has had a difficult start to the 2008 campaign and, in particular, has struggled to make an impact in the past two races.

And after slumping to 17th in qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix, Renault’s sporting director Steve Nielsen has said it is vital Piquet turns his season around – just as Heikki Kovalainen did last year.

Renault have endured a difficult start to the season, but a big upgrade introduced in Barcelona seemed to get them closer to Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.

Fernando Alonso qualified on the front row for the first time this year and was fighting near the front before an engine failure put him out of the race.

Symonds reckons his team took a significant step forward, although the Briton admits the gap to Ferrari is still big.

However, Spain’s double world champion did say contracts were “very flexible” given his departure from McLaren last year.

The unusual nature of the accident – both drivers were accelerating on a straight section of track – prompted cynics to question whether Alonso had ‘brake tested’ his former team mate. Renault’s telemetry suggested otherwise, and McLaren say they have no suspicion of any wrongdoing on the part of the Spaniard.

Such a failure would have robbed Hamilton’s car of not only downforce, but also drag, giving it an unexpected burst of acceleration, explaining the unlikely impact.

I have to say that I am suprised, as I thought Hamilton just simply ran into Alonso when they both moved to the right.

Twenty four months later and Alonso’s prospects for the season ahead look far less rosy.

Jarno Trulli has also been talking about how good the Toyota TF108 is this year. Given their budget, and the mandates coming from Japan, they need to do better. David Coulthard has also been discussing how good his Red Bull car is this year.

Given these discussions, here are my picks for 2008.

Drivers Championship

1. Lewis Hamilton
2. Kimi Raikkonen
3. Felipe Massa
4. Heikki Kovalainen
5. Nico Rosberg

Constructors Championship

1. McLaren
2. Ferrari
3. Williams
4. BMW Sauber
5. Renault

Renault, who endured a poor 2007 season with just one podium finish in 17 races, have been far from the pace of the leading Ferrari and McLaren teams during winter testing.

Despite having made significant progress compared to the end of last year, Piquet believes Renault are not yet ready to fight the top two teams.

“We are not fighting the McLarens. We are trying to fight BMW and Red Bull and Williams. We are not expecting to win races,” Piquet told reporters during testing at Barcelona.

Alonso, rejoining Renault after a year at the McLaren team, had to wait a few hours before he was able to take to the track, which was covered by a thick fog which made it impossible to run.