• Korean Grand Prix

Next updates will be key to title - Alonso

Fernando Alonso: "It will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it" © Sutton Images

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Fernando Alonso is happy Ferrari managed to limit the damage to his championship chances in Korea this weekend, but says successful updates are now vital for his title bid.

Alonso finished third at the Korean Grand Prix but lost his lead in the drivers' championship to race winner Sebastian Vettel. He is now six points off the Red Bull driver, who has won the last three races, but believes Ferrari is still capable of delivering a winning car over the final four races.

"We didn't bring anything new to the last six or seven races, so we are doing what we can at the moment and trying to save points, which I think we are doing perfectly every Sunday," he said. "It was a perfect Sunday for us with a good start, a good strategy and then a finish on the podium. I think it was a very strong Sunday but hopefully we will make a little bit of a step in performance and we can fight for bigger things.

"But, anyway, we were very happy with today's race and very happy with the performance we saw on Sunday that again put us a little bit closer to the top guys. We've lost the lead in the championship by six points but we must think how it went for us at the last four or five race with two retirements and nothing to do with the team and no mechanical problems. We had some people flying over us and stuff like that but with all these problems and being six points off the leader there are still a lot of possibilities for us over the next few races."

Asked whether any of the four upcoming circuits would suit the Ferrari, Alonso said: "It will depend on the upgrades on the car. We will see in India if there are any new parts and if there are we need to test them. The others will have new parts, maybe more than us, but we need to see which are working and which are not working and for who they are working - the performance of the cars will depend on that."

He added that Ferrari's performance had not been as bad as it may have seemed over the last three races.

"I think in Singapore, Suzuka and Korea we felt competitive," he said. "In Singapore not so much but we finished on the podium, in Suzuka we saw Felipe second and here third and fourth. So overall it has been more or less good races for us, apart from the puncture in Suzuka, but in terms of performance we are there. Obviously Red Bull have made a step forward and have won three races. One and two in qualifying in Suzuka, one and two in qualifying here and one and two in the race here, so it's not in our hands.

"Overall in the next four races we need to score seven more points than Sebastian, which will be extremely tough but we believe we can do it."

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