23/06/2011
NEWS STORY
Though he is 92 points adrift of championship leader Sebastian Vettel, and has made only two trips to the podium this year, Fernando Alonso believes he is on his best form ever.
With talk of Ferrari switching its attention to its 2012 car, some still refuse to write off the Italian team or its Spanish superstar, remembering last year's boast at Silverstone - when he was fifth in the championship with only one win to his credit - that he would win the title. As it happened, he took the title fight down to the wire, going into the final race as odds-on favourite.
Speaking at today's FIA press conference, though clearly having given up on repeating that 2010 feat, the Spaniard insists that he is on the best form ever.
"I think I have driven the best seven races of my career so far this year," he said, "but now we must continue to respect our rivals while trying to close the gap to them.
"We need to have the best car and then we can win the title because there is plenty of time and plenty of races to recover. But if we are 5th and 6th in qualifying then it will be very difficult," he continued. "The championship is long, so we need to concentrate on every race and try and be on the podium. Our aim is always to win every race even if this is very difficult but this is the way we are because we are Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. This is the pressure you have when you are Ferrari - you are expected to win every race and every championship."
Although this is a home race for the Spaniard, he makes no secret of the fact that he has not enjoyed much luck here.
"I remember doing a street demonstration run in an F1 car through the streets of the city in 2007, plus, when I raced in Formula Nissan, it was for a Valencian team. But as for the races on this street circuit, they have not gone so well. In 2008 I had an accident on the first lap with Nakajima and the last two years there were circumstances linked to the appearance of the Safety Car. You need to be competitive and also lucky and in the right place at the right moment if the Safety Car comes out, as was the case in Canada two weeks ago.
"In all the crazy races you need a bit of luck," he admitted. "I hope we can be competitive this weekend and get an important podium for the team and for me. Hopefully we can put on a good show for the fans. Attendance has not been great here in past years but the circuit organisers have worked hard to get the maximum number of fans here on Sunday. I hope we put on a good show for them."
Asked if a win was possible, the Spaniard replied: "At the moment it is difficult to win a race. No doubt about it, indeed it's a fact that we could have won in Monaco where I was ten centimetres away from victory and Canada where I was on the front row of the grid. This means the trend is positive and here, the circuit characteristics are similar to Canada and Monaco but we must remember that, at times, we have been one second off the fastest pace in qualifying."
As for the new rules regarding to changing engine mapping between qualifying and the race, the two-time champion doesn't believe the order will significantly change.
"I don't know if I can get pole just because of mapping changes," he said. "I don't think it will change much, because the fastest car and Vettel was sometimes 8 or 9 tenths faster than us even in the race, so we saw a superior dominant car and we cannot underestimate our opponents."