Fighting talk from Fernando Alonso as he assesses Red Bull title battle

Fernando Alonso has reiterated he’ll need Red Bull’s help to win this year’s Drivers’ Championship title because, based on pure pace, Aston Martin “don’t have a chance”.

With Aston Martin the most improved outfit on the grid this season, Alonso has taken his chances with his new team and raced his way to five podiums in six races. The latest came at the Monaco Grand Prix where the Spaniard bettered his previous P3s with a runner-up result.

That allowed him to close the gap on Sergio Perez in the Drivers’ standings to just 12 points, but championship leader Max Verstappen taking yet another win, his fourth of the season, Alonso is now 51 points off the pace.

It seems unlikely, given Red Bull’s pace, that the Spaniard has a shot at this year’s World title as he’s yet to even finish a race, barring Australia, within 20s of the Red Bull winner.

Alonso insists he’s not giving up, after all he’s come close in the past, most notably 2010 and 2012, when as with this season he wasn’t in the best car on the grid.

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“Let’s see,” he replied when asked if he a chance.

“我认为在任何其他的季节,我把电话er, back in the 2000s or early 2010s, I will be leading the championship with the results that I got this year but now there is Red Bull and Max dominating every race and even with great results, you’re just stepping behind them, every race. So I don’t know.

“We didn’t have the best car in 2010 and we arrived leading the championship in Abu Dhabi. We didn’t have the best car in ’12 and we still fight for the championship until the last lap in Brazil. So the championship is long, we will not give up.

“We will need weekends where Red Bull has some issues like Sergio had here with the DNF or zero points. And if Max has one or two of those, we will be a little bit closer in the championship.

“This is motorsport. Anything can happen. But on pure pace I think we don’t have a chance yet. But we will not give up for sure.”

Alonso has yet to win a grand prix this season with his P2 in Monte Carlo his best result. But while he is hoping for a victory before the year is out, he’s “happy” to be in the position he’s in today.

“I will love to receive the trophy from there,” he admitted. “But yeah, I’m not getting obsessed with this to be honest.

“I will be happy fighting for the championship with all second places until the end of the year or fighting for the championship next year.

“This year is just a gift, what we are having every weekend is just a celebration on the team. We didn’t expect this and this is just a build up into next year so hopefully good things are coming.”