Alonso: Ferrari is too far away

The two-time champion finished the Istanbul race in a distant eighth position after having qualified down in 12th.

Alonso admitted Ferrari's lack of pace has taken the team by surprise, and he reckons the Italian squad is currently level with Renault.

"We have been a bit surprised, as both in Barcelona and here we were not too competitive," he told Spanish television after the race.

"All race Felipe fought with Rosberg and I fought with Petrov, so we are at Renault's level, which is obviously not enough.

"We have an improvement for Canada and then for Valencia we have a bigger package. But we know McLaren and Red Bull are very far away, and we don't know if that's enough, so we have to work very hard."

The Spaniard, however, said he was happy to remain a contender in the championship despite the lack of results.

He is 14 points behind Red Bull's Mark Webber.

"The points are good. Logically we wanted more but we were third in the championship, now we are fourth so we are still there.

"We don't have the fastest car, and yet we are one point ahead of Vettel, so we aren't doing too bad."