Alonso fired up ahead of final showdown

The world champion flies out to Japan tonight for a promotional event in Fuji before heading to China, where he will aim to defend his two-point lead over Michael Schumacher.

Prior to leaving, however, he has declared himself bullish about his chances of heading off the threat from Ferrari.

"Well, we have been leading all year, and we want to finish in the same position," said Alonso. "Honestly, I think the motivation is greater than ever.

"These are the last three races for me with this fantastic Renault team, and also the last races for Michelin in this era of Formula One. So our motivation to win is enormous, and I think we can do it."

Renault have made a big push to improve the performance of their car, engine and tyre package in the last two weeks of testing - although circumstances meant Alonso did not join the effort.

He had to miss the post-Italian GP test at Jerez in Spain to allow the knee he bruised at Monza to recover and, because he was never scheduled to test at Silverstone last week, it meant he has rested for two weeks.

His absence has not affected his or Renault's determination to win the title, though - and he is adamant that everyone knows they need to put the maximum in now to claim the championship.

"I have the opinion that stress is not useful," said Alonso, who has been baffled by reports that he was banned from testing last week because of his future switch to McLaren.

"We have to do our job, and I must do 100% with the team. If we do that job well and we deserve the title, then we will win. The important thing in the next races is to give the maximum to the team.

"We always knew that it would be very tight at the end of the championship, and I was prepared for this. At Renault, we were ready for the opening races, and totally competitive: maybe we started at 95% of our maximum, while the others were at 70%.

"Now, everybody is at 98% or 99% and the performance is very, very close. We know we have the performance to win races, and we need to make it happen."

And although Alonso has drawn short of confidently guaranteeing victory in China, he is well aware that is the target.

"We have been saying all year that you cannot predict what will happen on track, with the competition being so close," he said.

"Instead, we are focused on our objectives, and that means qualifying at the front and winning the race. That will be the target."