Ferrari can still win the title, says Alonso

VALENCIA, Spain, (Reuters) - Ferrari can still win the Formula One title if they can improve their car quickly, double world champion Fernando Alonso said on Thursday.

The Spaniard, who won his titles with Renault, told a news conference at his home European Grand Prix in Valencia that he was not giving up hope and considered this season’s first seven races the best of his career.

Alonso is 92 points adrift of Red Bull’s champion Sebastian Vettel, with 12 races remaining.

Even if Vettel fails to score in his next three races, and Alonso wins all of them, the 23-year-old German would still be ahead of the Ferrari driver.

Vettel has won five of the races so far, with Red Bull starting on pole position in all of them.

“I think we need to have the best car,” said Alonso. “If we have the best car we can win the title because there is plenty of time and plenty of races to recover.

“If we are fifth or sixth, as we are normally in qualifying, it’s very difficult because you cannot get the pace that everybody is doing,” he added. Alonso has been in the hunt for victory in the last two races, finishing second in Monaco and then retiring in Canada after a collision with McLaren’s eventual race winner Jenson Button.

“Despite these seven races when I think I drove the best seven races of my career...it seems that the season has been a very bad season so far,” said the Spaniard. “Because we are Ferrari, we are obliged to win every race but in some other ways I think we need to understand and respect our rivals and to work harder than them and to close that gap in the near future.” Ferrari have not won a race since Alonso’s last victory in South Korea in October.

The Spaniard ended last season as overall runner-up after fighting for the title right down to the wire in Abu Dhabi, where a strategic mistake by the team ended his hopes.

Alonso’s Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa is in sixth place, 129 points behind Vettel.