Alonso: We must be more competitive
Friday 8th July 2011
Fernando Alonso has no intention of wishing ill on Sebastian Vettel but knows unless he starts making mistakes then this year's Formula One title race is over.Double world champion Alonso admits chasing a driver in the form Vettel has displayed so far this season in his Red Bull is "difficult".
It all reminds Ferrari star Alonso of 2004 when Michael Schumacher won 12 of the first 13 races, and after the 14th in Belgium had the title in his pocket.
Even that, though, does not compare to the earliest conclusion of a season in F1 history, when Schumacher clinched the championship in 2002 in France after 11 of the 17 grands prix.
Mercifully, although Vettel has a 77-point lead going into Sunday's British Grand Prix, the 23-year-old cannot win the title following 11 rounds of this year's campaign.
As far as Alonso is concerned, though, it is all a bit depressing right now as he said: "Their (Red Bull) car so far has been too dominant.
"After eight races we should be talking about eight wins for Seb with no mistakes, but he made one in Canada and in China he was a little bit conservative.
"It is still a dominant position that maybe we have not seen since 2004 - Michael's time.
"It is difficult to compete like this, and difficult to think about beating Vettel without a big improvement in our car or for McLaren's car for Jenson (Button) and Lewis (Hamilton).
"Hopefully here in Silverstone we can see a turnaround of this situation in terms of performance, and then we will see.
"There is always hope, there is always the motivation to win every race, but we obviously need a step forward."
Alonso also admits Vettel needs to start becoming error-prone if he, or anybody else for that matter, is to have a chance of beating the German.
"It's his to lose," added Alonso. "It is true we need to win races, to improve our performance and be much more competitive than we are now.
"But at the same time we need some mistakes from Sebastian if we are to recover the gap because without retirements or problems for Vettel then it will be difficult.
"He needs to make mistakes if we are to have some hope. We saw in China and Canada that mistakes can happen.
"So we need to concentrate on our races, try to win every weekend, even if we know it is difficult, but we need some help for sure."
Alonso, though, also knows Ferrari should be in a better position than they are now, with the Spaniard trailing Vettel by 99 points.
Despite a recent improvement, the car is still simply nowhere near in a position to consistently challenge the Red Bull.
"When we started the championship we thought we would be fighting for the lead at this point," said Alonso.
"We had some difficult races in Malaysia and China, and although we've recovered in the last three, the gap to the leader is quite big - 99 points.
"After eight races it's not the best position, or not the one we wanted, but it is the way it is.
"We need to work harder, to keep improving the car because at the moment we're not quick enough."
Credit: ESPN STAR (www.espnstar.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment