Ferrari lacking performance - Alonso

Fernando Alonso does not fancy Ferrari's chances at its home race © Getty Images

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Fernando Alonso does not think Ferrari will be on the pace of its rivals Red Bull and McLaren at its home race in Italy.

Alonso finished the second Friday practice session at Monza in fifth place and a respectable 0.423s off Sebastian Vettel's fastest time. However, he is not confident about closing the gap over the next two days and admitted that Ferrari has not brought any major performance updates for the Italian Grand Prix.

"Honestly, I think we lack a bit of performance compared to the best, even if there are still the same unknowns relating to Fridays, especially those linked to fuel loads," he said. "However, we have to be realistic: the car is more or less the one we had in Spa, apart from specific updates to cope with the fact this track requires low aerodynamic downforce. Sure, it would be nice to repeat last year's performance, but we know that will be very difficult. You can't create a miracle in two weeks, but we will do our utmost to give the fans something to cheer about."

He added: "What is my motivation like for this final part of the season? I am a very competitive person and I don't like losing. It's true, this year that's happened quite often, but there are still targets that are within our grasp, for example, second place in the drivers' championship: Webber is not that far ahead."

Ferrari's technical director Pat Fry agreed that Ferrari's main rivals look strong, but also warned that Mercedes might threaten on Sunday.

"From what we saw today, McLaren looks very strong, Red Bull as usual is very competitive and Mercedes is also going well because of its speed," Fry said. "We still need to improve a bit, having already made some progress from one session to the next. We will be trying our hardest to succeed."

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