• Belgian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Qualifying proof Ferrari off the pace - Alonso

Fernando Alonso is adamant Ferrari need to be quicker © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Belgian Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari must improve if he is going to hold onto his lead in the championship.

Alonso has stressed on several occasions that his car is not as fast as his rivals and at Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday he finished sixth fastest in qualifying. He will gain a position thanks to a penalty for Pastor Maldonado, but with bad days for several of his rivals, he said Ferrari could not rely on the mistakes of others.

"We aim, for sure, to improve the car," he said. "One day it is a gearbox problem [for a rival], one day it is Hamilton maybe not making the most of the car, some circuits are better for some cars, some for others, but we cannot always be on that narrow line where we are too slow.

"If we want to win the championship we need to be quicker and improve the car. That's the only answer we have now and our maximum concentration and effort is to do so. It's true that without the perfect car we have had good races and good points but we know it will be difficult to continue like this forever. Everything went well after qualifying but we need to keep working hard to improve the situation."

Alonso said Sunday's race would be interesting because different teams are running different levels of downforce on their cars.

"There is a little bit more difference between downforce levels than in other years," Alonso added. "In FP1 and FP2 you need to make decisions for downforce and seventh gear ratios and with no reference from Friday there is a little bit more difference between the cars. On a normal Friday you always look at the others and we all finish in the same area, but it's good that there is a little bit of a mix and tomorrow we will see a really good race. There will be some sectors where some cars will be really quick and some will be the opposite and we will see who can do better overall."

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