Alonso admits Ferrari just too quick

Kimi Raikkonen led a dominant one-two for the Italian squad, with Felipe Massa coming home in second place. Alonso finished over 14 seconds behind the Finn.

"I think they were too quick for us today and I tried quite hard in the first stint to keep the pace with Felipe, just hoping at the pitstop to make a position but they were disappearing slowly and after the first stop for sure we didn't see them anymore," said Alonso.

"So we lacked a little bit of pace in the race. We were quick in quail but in the race we were a little bit off the pace here today."

Alonso beat teammate Lewis Hamilton in the race, the Briton having to settle for fourth position. World champion Alonso is now two points behind Hamilton with three races to go.

Alonso and Hamilton continued with their fierce battle for the title on track today, with the Spaniard forcing Hamilton off the track coming out of the first corner.

Both cars arrived side by side at Eau Rouge, but the world champion managed to emerge in front.

"Yeah, at the first corner Felipe locked the front tyre a little bit and was blocking the inside and I had no space and had a bad exit from Turn One and I think Lewis went wide at the exit of Turn One and he took a bit of advantage running on tyre marks and we arrived wheel by wheel into Turn Two and I was lucky to be on inside and keep the position there," Alonso added.

"In this occasion I was quite confident and happy with my position into that corner so I was not too worried and I had one lap less fuel than him and I knew my car in the first stint should be quick enough."

Despite Ferrari's dominance, Alonso reckons McLaren have made progress at tracks that benefit the Italian squad.

"I think we improved from the last time in Turkey," he added. "There was no possibility to fight with them. Today they were quicker but we reduced the gap.

"There is still work to do but there will come circuits now that will suit our car a little bit better. So we can have possibilities to win the races from now on."