Fernando Alonso admits that while Ferrari is making progress it remains months behind Red Bull in terms of performance.

It's been a topsy-turvy season for the Spaniard and his team, finishing a lap down on the leaders in his home race then second in Monaco two weeks later, missing out on a possible win due to the red flag just a few laps before the end of the race.

In two weeks, the F1 circus pitches up at Silverstone, the circuit where last year Alonso, against all odds, claimed he would win the championship. Dismissed as wishful thinking at the time, the Spaniard went into the final round as championship leader and red hot favourite having turned the season on its head.

A year later and Alonso is making no such claims, whilst pleased with the progress his team is making he admits that there is a lot more to be done.

"The development work on the car is progressing well," he told reporters after a qualifying session which will see him line-up fourth on the grid today, "but we are a long way behind in terms of aerodynamics, which to put a time value on it means two or three months. It will not be easy to catch up but we will do all we can to succeed."

With the FIA's attempts to thwart Red Bull clearly having failed - Vettel out-qualified him by 0.479s - Alonso knows that a win is out of the question, however, he holds out hope for a podium.

"I don't think this was a disappointing qualifying, because even if there were those outside the team who built up expectations, within it, we were well aware of the situation," he said. "The aim was to fight with the McLarens and we did just that. Maybe we had hoped to be ahead of both, but instead we find ourselves splitting the two drivers.

"I did not expect that the very slight change introduced to the rules would change the order of things and that was the case:," he added, "Red Bull was and still is the favourite.

"We will see if at Silverstone, where there are more significant changes coming, something will happen, but we need to keep in mind that everyone or almost everyone will suffer a drop in performance."