Alonso has added incentive in Spain

London: If there is one race that Fernando Alonso wants to win more than any other this year, it has to be Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix.

A 130,000-strong capacity crowd will be cheering on the 24-year-old Renault driver at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya for his first home race since he became Formula One's youngest champion last year.

No Spaniard has ever won the Spanish round of the championship, indeed Alonso is the first to win a grand prix anywhere, but this year he could write a new chapter in the country's motor racing history.

Alonso leads the championship by 13 points and even if closest rival Michael Schumacher has won the last two races for Ferrari and has a formidable record in Barcelona, Alonso is determined to deny the German a hat-trick.

"I think Barcelona will be a good point. So I'm really looking forward to winning that one," he declared after finishing second at the Nuerburgring last Sunday.

Alonso was second to McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen last year in Spain, and runner-up also to Schumacher in 2003.

But, as champion, the situation has changed. "Last year I think it was not quite so important for me, because I was so focused on the championship and just wanted to win races, it didn't matter which ones," he said in a team preview this week.

"This season it is a bit different. "Of course, I am fighting really hard for the title. But now, it is true that if I have to pick two or three races in the year I want to win, then Barcelona is definitely one of them."

Alonso, chasing his 12th podium finish in a row and with two wins already this year, denied he would be feeling any extra pressure at home. "I think that pressure comes when you don't do your maximum, then you have pressure in your head," he said.

"In my case though, I always do the maximum, in a test or a race, at Barcelona or any other track. If I am doing the maximum, then I don't have pressure. As soon as the visor goes down and the race starts, it really doesn't matter at all."

The Spaniard will be wary of seven times champion Schumacher, the most successful Formula One driver of all time with six previous wins in Spain including four in the last five years.

"Sometimes, these races back-to back are really good. They enable you to keep the good energy from the last race up and make use of it for the next one," the 37-year-old German said.

"We want to carry on being as successful as in the last two races. I think we can manage to achieve that. I think our chances are good and we should be able to fight for the win at Barcelona."

Raikkonen, overall runner-up last year with seven wins, has had a barren run so far with Mercedes-powered McLaren making another slow start to the campaign.

The Finn could prove to be the biggest threat to Renault, with his car using the same Michelin tyres, while Honda are also hoping to get back into the fray with Briton Jenson Button and Brazilian Rubens Barrichello.

"There are four teams, sometimes one is quicker, sometimes another one is slower," warned Alonso last weekend. "But all four teams are strong and ready to fight."