I'm still in the title race, insists Alonso

Date published : 30 Aug 2010 - 15:22:43

Fernando Alonso admitted the outcome of his Belgian Grand Prix was very disappointing, but played down the damage to his world title chances.After a poor qualifying session left him 10th on the grid, Alonso was hit by an out-of-control Rubens Barrichello on the opening lap when rain fell at the Bus Stop chicane, and lost further ground when a tyre gamble didn't pay off.He battled back to eighth place before crashing out of the race on lap 38 when he ran wide over a wet kerb at Malmedy.At the start, I immediately made up some places and the signs were that I could have a good race, recounted Alonso.Then I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, when Rubens could not control his car under braking and crashed into me.I came straight back to the pits to change the tyres and to check the car was all right, and we fitted intermediate tyres, expecting more persistent and harder rain, but that was not the case.We were hoping for rain, but when it came it was already too late to be of much use to me; on the contrary it prevented me from getting the chance to overtake the cars which would have had to stop to fit the soft tyres.Then I went off the track when I went over a kerb, and that was my race over: a shame, even if the points I could have brought home would not have been a lot.With three of the five title contenders failing to score, winner Lewis Hamilton and runner-up Mark Webber have pulled well clear in the standings, and Alonso is now 41 points adrift in fifth place.Nonetheless the 2005 and 2006 champion is far from ready to concede defeat.The first of the seven finals went badly for me and for two of the other five finalists, while the remaining two got the maximum results, he said.That means we will have to make up the ground lost today somewhere else.It is very disappointing, because this is a bad result, but it does not mean I have given up on my chances of winning the title.