• United States Grand Prix - Qualifying

Alonso has a 'feeling' he will finish ahead of Vettel

Fernando Alonso: "We will show that we can score more points than Vettel" © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• United States Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Fernando Alonso

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Fernando Alonso has a feeling he will score more points than Sebastian Vettel at the United States Grand Prix despite starting eight places behind the Red Bull driver on Sunday's grid.

Alonso was ninth fastest in qualifying but will gain a starting position on Sunday thanks to a five-place grid drop for Romain Grosjean. However, at the last grand prix Alonso came back through the field from sixth on the grid (after being seventh fastest in qualifying) to finish second in the race.

"We [Ferrari] were seventh and ninth in Abu Dhabi and the car is more or less the same and we are seventh and ninth in Austin - it's not surprising for us, to be honest," he said. "We said yesterday that Red Bull will be one and two and we will be seventh and eighth and people will be thinking it's all over. Then on Sunday we will show that we can score more points than Vettel - I don't know how exactly, but I have this feeling inside."

Alonso said he had been a little bit off the pace all day and, while a mistake at turn 19 ahead of his flying lap didn't help, he was not that surprised to start behind team-mate Felipe Massa.

"In turn 19 I went off and the tyres got a little bit dirty and it was not good for the next three or four corners. But Felipe was quicker than me in FP3, Q1, Q2 and Q3. So he was doing a better job today and tomorrow I will try to do better and make up some places."

However, Alonso said the start would be crucial to his chances as overtaking will be tough around the 3.4-mile circuit.

"I think overtaking here will be tricky because the detection point is after the high-speed corners in the first sector. The first lap and start will be the majority of the places we can gain. So we need to plan this well."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.