FERNANDO ALONSO will nose his Renault out this morning on to the blistering hot Istanbul Park circuit that will host the first Turkish Grand Prix wondering if he can translate his virtual fantasy into victorious reality. The man who could be Formula One’s youngest world champion has raced this circuit in imaginary grands prix a hundred times, but only on his PlayStation in the living room of his Oxford home. And he has won every time.

But Alonso, 24, has never had the hot breath of Kimi Räikkönen on his neck as he practised the art of negotiating corners that will be so demanding this weekend that his neck will feel as though it has been pummelled by Ricky Hatton. Nor has he had to worry about Michelin tyres that could shred over the 200 miles of Sunday’s race, turning his car into a 200mph skateboard.

The virtual world is infinitely more predictable than a grand prix and Alonso knows that his place in history is at stake over the final six races of the season, from Istanbul this weekend to China in eight weeks. He has led the championship since the second race and now is 26 points ahead of Räikkönen. It might seem a handsome lead but Räikkönen is a formidable opponent in a formidable car in the shape of his McLaren Mercedes, as they showed in winning the last grand prix in Hungary. This is not a time for Alonso to relax or even try to play a strategic game of grabbing points and leaving the winning to Räikkönen.

“You might think on Sunday night you have done well to get points,” he said. “But you have to approach every race wanting to win. We all know the McLaren is the quickest car but we have to try to achieve the perfect weekend to beat them.”

Perfection is the problem and even the PlayStation underlined how difficult a test the maiden grand prix for Turkey could be. Renault’s computer experts have runs tens of thousands of simulations of this race already and telephoned Alonso with their results. “They told me I should be lapping here at about 1min 26sec but I have only been able to manage 1min 28sec, so I have some more speed to find from somewhere,” he said.

But then Alonso could hardly be expected to be at the top of his game in his front room in Oxford. His home city of Oviedo has become like a goldfish bowl since he became Spain’s favourite sporting son, a stark contrast from Oxford, where he can walk down the street unrecognised, in spite of a season spent in front of millions of television viewers watching him being propelled to a place as the successor to Michael Schumacher.

His rapid promotion has surprised even the man himself, who admits to starting the year hoping for a third or fourth place in the championship. “I am surprised but I will be really disappointed now if I do not win,” he said. “I have come this far and I have to make sure I do not lose it in the last race of the season.”

The race in Turkey is an unknown for every driver and team on a sweeping 3.3-mile circuit that is yet to be assaulted by Formula One’s 20 cars. Alonso might have had his virtual successes on it at home but the test starts for real today with practice for the first Turkish Grand Prix.