• Korean Grand Prix - Qualifying

Alonso not worried by Red Bull pace

Fernando Alonso: "They have one advantage which is the car and we have one advantage which is the team" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Korean Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso
• |
• Sebastian Vettel

• Teams:
• Ferrari
• |
• Red Bull

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari will have to play to its strengths in order to be in with a chance of fighting for victory on race day at the Korean Grand Prix.

Alonso has a four-point lead in the championship ahead of this weekend's race, but couldn't match title rival Sebastian Vettel for pace in qualifying. He will start fourth on the grid in Sunday's race but believes Ferrari will be more competitive in the race.

"I feel reasonably confident I can do a good race," he said. "The long runs yesterday were good. In the race there are many factors, in qualifying the quickest car gets pole position but in the race it's not only about having the quickest car. You need to have a good strategy, good tyres, good pit stops, a good start and so many things that can be around. And on that, in general, I think we are the strongest team with all these factors.

"Thanks to that strength we are leading the championship so we need to use our good points and hide a little bit our weakness, which is perhaps qualifying. Today we did a good qualifying and tomorrow we need to use our strong points."

Alonso said he was not overly concerned about Red Bull's pace in the final sector of the lap where he was 0.3s slower than Vettel.

"I think all weekend they were very quick in the third sector and they have been in the past as well. There are many corners in there like Suzuka, where they were also quick, and in Abu Dhabi in the last sector maybe they will be quick too. They lack a little bit of speed on the long straights because of the philosophy of the car, which is biased towards more downforce. But I'm not worried for tomorrow and not worried for the next five races. It's going to be tight but we knew that. They have one advantage which is the car and we have one advantage which is the team."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.