Red Bull may be leading the title race but Fernando Alonso believes the drivers with world championship-winning experience may hold the advantage when the Formula One season reaches its climax.
With seven races remaining, five drivers - Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Alonso - are separated by just 20 points at the top of the standings.
The Spaniard won the season-opener in Bahrain before Ferrari fell behind rivals Red Bull and McLaren. However, improvements to their F10 car have fed through to results in recent races, with Alonso controversially winning in Germany after team-mate Felipe Massa let him through before finishing second in Hungary.
Speaking to Ferrari's website, Alonso was confident they could sustain their momentum over the remaining races.
"It only took us two normal races to be fully back in contention for the title," the double world champion said.
It's true we are still behind in the classification and it is always better to be in front, but I am convinced that in the final sprint, by which I mean the last two or three races, we will be closer to the top than we are now."The important thing is to remain calm and concentrated and to do our job well."
Rivals
Although Red Bull have had the fastest car during the season so far, particularly in qualifying, Alonso said the championship-winning experience possessed by himself, Hamilton and Button will be an important factor.
Despite the logjam at the top of the standings, a confident Alonso gave himself a 50 per cent chance of winning the title, saying that was the "normal state of affairs".
With F1 currently on its summer break ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix on August 29th, Alonso also admitted the race at Spa-Francorchamps would enter his thoughts.
He also disagreed with Hamilton's recent assertion that the factory shutdown had come at a bad time for McLaren's own development push.
"It won't be possible to switch off my mind completely over these two weeks: I will try and relax and do a bit of sport, but at least once a day, maybe just for ten minutes, I will inevitably think about the next race in Belgium," Alonso said.
"I think it will be the same for everyone and the timing of the break does not make any difference. After a few unlucky races, which went badly for various reasons, we are now on the right road.
"The car is much improved and so that makes me more optimistic and has seen the whole team grow in confidence.
"On Spa, we will have a few more things and we hope they help us progress still more: the others will do the same, which means we will have to be better than them and quicker in terms of development work."
Confident
This is however one thing weighing on Ferrari during the holiday: the pending FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing where they must explain their use of team orders at Hockenheim.
Ferrari have already been fined $100,000, but they could yet face further sanction.
"We have to await the decision with confidence, hoping for a positive outcome," Alonso added. "We drivers and the engineers have the task of staying focused on the car and on our work, trying to get the results on track."
