Alonso relying on McLaren help to catch Red Bull in the standings

[Mrs.Domenicali]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/93353

Alonso relying on McLaren help to catch Red Bull in the standings

By Simon Strang Sunday, July 24th 2011, 16:23 GMT

Fernando Alonso says that he will need McLaren's help if he is to stand any chance of winning this year's drivers' crown.

Alonso, who has finished first or second in the last three races, reckons that it will not be enough to simply beat Red Bull for the rest of the season - he needs McLaren to finish ahead of the runaway championship leaders as well if he is to overhaul the points deficit.

Asked about his chances of winning the championship in 2011 he replied: "I think it's still the same [situation] and it's still very difficult and we need some help from Red Bull.

"If they keep finishing the races even third or fourth is enough for them," he added.

"But as I said yesterday, if there is a small chance to win the championship we need the best McLaren possible, because they need to be on the podium constantly and we have to be in front of them as well.

"But we need to have a very competitive McLaren as they were today and hopefully in Budapest we can be both on the podium and not Sebastian [Vettel]."

The Spaniard added that he believed that his recent string of results proves that Ferrari's mid-season revival is well on-track.

"We had a very good race [today], starting fourth again," he said. "In the race we were as quick as the leader in all the stints so we need to keep improving because qualifying is our weakest point at the moment but in general I am extremely happy.

"I finished second in Valencia, won in Silverstone and finished second here. Three different tracks; three different temperatures; three different maps in the exhaust. So that confirms the consistency of our car at the moment and the real improvements that we did."

Ferrari's team principal Stefano Domenicali also believes that the results of the last two grands prix could signify a turning point in the season for the Italian squad.

"The most important thing... if we see this kind of performance we can have a different second half of the season in order to try and challenge Red Bull because they are still ahead and very strong," he told the BBC. "I think we need to take it race-by-race.

"If you remember last year in Germany we were very strong and then we went to Hungary and we were 1s off the pace from the Red Bull. So I think the only signal that for me is great is to see that in the certain conditions the car has improved but let's wait and see."

[sav_pap]

We have a winning car that's true. With McCheaters cutting points from RedFulls we can climb to top faster...that's also true. One way or another, no problem (Sorry I prefer the second way...without help)...