• Italian Grand Prix

Alonso cautious on title hopes

Fernando Alonso signs autographs for fans on Thursday © Getty Images

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• Race:
• Italian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso says that another failure to score points at Monza will be terminal to his slim chances of winning the drivers' title.

After failing to pick up points at the Belgian Grand Prix, Alonso lies fifth in the championship, a full 41 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton with only six races remaining. And the two-time world champion admitted at Monza on Thursday that time is not on his side.

"This weekend is maybe not the last [chance], but one of our last chances will come here or Singapore to recover some good points," said Alonso. "There are still six races to go and I am still confident that if you are on podium in all six and win some of them it is possible to be a contender in the last race.

"We are still more or less calm of our chances, but knowing that Monza is an important race, and Singapore is. Another DNF or another problem is probably a last chance or a bye bye to the championship. But things change very quickly race-by-race, and this year with the new points system it can change very quickly. Our aim is to do six races at top level, best level we can, and then we will see."

With Monza expected to favour the characteristics of Ferrari and McLaren over Red Bull on one of the few occasions this season, Alonso is optimistic that his team can deliver a strong result to keep its title chances alive.

"We should be competitive here. Spa didn't get us what we expected, and the performance we had in Spa was not as good as we wanted. We made some changes and some analysis of what happened in Spa and I think we understand some of the problems, and here we arrive with a better package that suits Monza."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.