Pirelli's announcement that it will use hard and soft compounds at Silverstone does not fill Fernando Alonso with confidence.

The last time the Ferrari star used the combination was at Barcelona when he finished fifth, a lap down on the leaders.

"Today, the team told me about Pirelli's tyre choices for the coming three races,2 he told his team's website. "At the British Grand Prix, we will be running the soft and the hard, the same choice that featured in the early stages of the championship.

"Okay, for us that means one more challenge," he continued, "namely being able to make all types of tyre work as well as possible. Anyway, the tyre choice is the same for everyone and there's no point discussing if the pair of compounds chosen is more suited to one team or another. It's up to the teams to adjust the cars to get the best out of the tyres both in terms of performance and life.

"It is a key time in the season," he added. "We are moving forward, as could be seen in the last three races, but now we must also confirm the progress seen at Monaco, Montreal and Valencia on a track with completely different characteristics, which is definitely more suited to our main rivals.

"At Silverstone, you need a lot of aerodynamic downforce and this is area where we are lagging behind. We will have some new parts, but there's a step from that to saying we will have made up the difference… Maybe! We must be realistic and accept that it's not possible that in less than two months - the time past since the Barcelona race - we have closed the gap that was seen at the Catalunya circuit. It wasn't a whole lap, because that was down to the way the race panned out, but it was definitely bigger than what we have seen in the last three races. We must continue to work on improving the car and then I am sure the win will come. When? I don't have a crystal ball to be able to give a definite answer."

Looking back at the Valencia weekend, he said: "It was a positive weekend, especially the race. In fact it meant I filled a gap in my trophy collection, but the best part of it was seeing again the delight of the crowd when I passed Mark, first on track and then at the pit stop: racing in Spain is always something special!"