Having already quoted a 17th century samurai swordsman, Fernando Alonso, whose championship lead has been slashed to four points, maintains a philosophical approach ahead of the Korean Grand Prix weekend.

In the wake of a disastrous race at Suzuka, which lasted no longer than the first corner, the Spaniard took inspiration from swordsman, ronin, strategist and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi, widely considered one of the greatest warriors of all time.

Quoting from Musashi's Book of Five Rings, heading out of Suzuka, Alonso famously tweeted: "Five great races coming! If the enemy thinks in the mountains, attack by sea. If they think in the sea, attack by the mountains."

The Spaniard maintains that approach as he prepares for this weekend's encounter at Yeongam, even though some believe the title is already lost.

"I am sure we can be in the fight right down to the wire," he told his team's website. "The people who are working on the car are the same who have done the job so far and there's no reason to think they can't do a good job again now.

"Let's not forget that, if I am still leading the championship, it's because we have been capable of improving the car significantly compared to the start of the season and also because we are capable of always getting the most out of what we have to work with. We have not been gifted anything, indeed Spa and Suzuka deprived us of places that were easily within our grasp.

"It's not through some sort of divine miracle that we are in this position," he insisted, "it is down to the work of all us, from first to last. Formula 1 is a team sport: you win and you lose together."

The Spaniard, who spent three days in Japan, recharging his batteries after the disappointment of Suzuka, insists that the championship is far from over.

"It was very disappointing, but now it's history and there's no point brooding over it anymore. As I said before I left the track, now we start again from zero, given that only four points separate me and Vettel and even the others have got a little bit closer. The winner will be the one who scores one point more than the rest. In order to do that, one needs a quick car, not to make any mistakes and with the hope that any further mistakes from others do not cost you dear, as happened to us, first in Spa and then in Suzuka. But for these incidents, the situation would be very different."

In the wake of the team's admission that much of its windtunnel data has been compromised, the Spaniard still has faith in the F2012 and his team's ongoing development programme.

"There are some teams who, in this final part of the season have made a significant step forward, while we have not matched that, especially in terms of how the car behaves on certain types of track. However, it is equally true that, at Monza for example, we had a car that was good enough to take pole, while then at Singapore, we got a bit lost and to a certain extent, we also suffered at Suzuka, even if there, Felipe showed he was pretty competitive in the race: if we weren't as quick as the Red Bulls, we were at least a match for all the others.

Actually, these ups and downs seem to be the norm this season: in Japan, the McLaren seemed less strong than in the previous race while Red Bull stepped up significantly, as indeed did Sauber. A lot's been said about us, because everyone is always focused on the Red team: here for example, if we try a wing once, then don't use it, it becomes news, but these things happen regularly in all teams. Now, all we need to do is get back on the right track and I'm sure we can do it."